


The Shadow of a Hero

by Fantasy0fanatic



Series: The Hero Duology [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-10
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2020-02-29 05:55:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18772591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantasy0fanatic/pseuds/Fantasy0fanatic
Summary: Ultron is at large and has joined forces with the greek monsters and Hephaestus's newest inventions gone wrong.The Avengers need help, but aren't to thrilled with the bitter teen and his doctor that they are forced to work with.Nico di'Angelo didn't care less about the new super hero team until Hades assigns him and Will Solace to fight with them in the impending war.This should be interesting.





	1. Chapter 1

A dark figure hides in the shadows of Hades' throne room, watching as the god Hephaestus is escorted in by the skeleton guards before the servants of the Underworld scurry back to their assigned posts. "Zeus sent me to see how the solution to our little spirit problem is coming along." Hephaestus says as the large black doors slam shut with the exit of the last guard.

"You mean the problem you caused by trying to combine my spirits with one of your scatter brained inventions?" Hades makes it sounds like he doesn't care, but the agitated souls screaming to get out of his cloak tell a different story.

"That would be the one." Hephaestus mumbles slightly embarrassed. Not that he would admit it.

"If you are asking if I'm handling your mistake for you then yes, and you being here is only trying my patience, so if you would be so kind as to shoo." A flash of bright light illuminates the dark room before Hades even finished speaking. With a sigh Hades slide his hand down his face in frustration. "I know you're there Thanatos."

The dark figure peels away from the rest of the shadows into the dim light cast by the torches holding a sinister looking green fire. "Does he really need to be pulled into this?" Hades doesn't ask who the 'he' Thanatos is talking about is.

"I don't have any other choice. Please inform Nico that I need to see him as soon as possible." Hades commands wearily.

"Of course." Thanatos gives a small bow before melting back into the shadows and disappearing. 

 

**Nico's point of view:**

I wake up to the sound of pounding on my cabin door. Whoever is interrupting my sleep better have a good reason or be equipped with armor and a weapon because I'm going to kill them. I stumble over different things that I've thrown on my floor instead of putting way and open up my cabin door to reveal a mop of blond hair and not much else before I'm brushed aside as they push their way through the door. Now that the fogginess has slightly cleared from my brain I fully understand who the intruder is. "Solace, what are you doing here." I ask groggily.

"Making sure you don't starve yourself to death, that's what." He shoots back. I roll my eyes. I've done my time in the infirmary, why does Will still feel the need to check up on me?

"How? By dragging me to breakfast in my pajamas?" Will finally seem to realize the situation and blushes.

"I guess you should change first." He mumbles but doesn't move.

"Solace?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not going to change with you in here." I say with a smirk as his face turns a even darker shade of red before he quickly hurried out. I roll my eyes again and put on my black MCR shirt and a random pair of jeans. I'm interrupted by another knock at my door.

"Nico are you decent?" I hear Will ask through the door.

"I don't know Solace, am I?" I don't have to see him to know that his face probably looks like a tomato right about now. I give him a few seconds to compose himself before I open the door and walk past him towards the dinning pavilion. I walk in silence while Will tries to start a conversation only to stop when he realizes that I'm not going to take part in his small talk.

When we reach the pavilion I stop dead in my tracks causing Will to run into the back of me. The Hades table should be empty. Hazel is staying at Camp Jupiter, so why is there a note being held down with a bone like it's a paper weight on my table? I can faintly hear Will asking what's wrong, but I've learned how to tune him out not long after the Giant War. I slowly make my way over to the table. Who knows what other surprises could be waiting for me. Nothing jumps out at me, so I grab the note. The bone quickly turns to dust and is carried away by the wind as I begin to read.

_Nico, your father wishes an audience with you if convenient; if inconvenient come anyways._

_~ Thanatos_

Sorry Will, I don't have time for breakfast today." I say distantly. Will starts to say something, but I've already called the shadows to travel me to the Underworld.

The shadows disperse to reveal my father staring down at he from his spot on his throne of bones.

"Father." I address him respectfully as to avoid being smited on the spot.

"Nico, I have an assignment for you," He gets straight to the point. "Hephaestus convinced Zeus to order me into releasing spirits so that Hephaestus could try to use them in one of his inventions." I arch an eyebrow in confusion, but know better than to say anything as he continues. "As you can suspect, things went wrong and now his creations have teamed up with a robot, dubbed Ultron, created by an arrogant mortal, who wishes to cause human extinction."

"That's certainly ambitious of them, but what does this have to do with me?" Last I checked, Hades doesn't usually send me to fix other god's mistakes.

"A unique team that call themselves the avengers are trying to handle the situation, but they are under equipped to deal with the Greek monsters that have teamed up with this new enemy, so you are going to meet them at an off the grid farm house tomorrow and offer you assistance."

"Of course father," I agree indifferently.

I'm about to shadow travel back to camp when Hades adds one more thing. "Oh, and Nico, due to you lack of concern of the dangers that come with using your powers I advise you to invite that son of Apollo to join you."

"Will?" I ask slightly surprised, but he doesn't go into any further detail. "Yes father." I shadow travel back to my cabin and passing out as soon as I collapse on my bed and my head hits the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not Marvel or Rick Riordan. I don't own most of the characters or concepts in this story.


	2. Chapter 2

Demigod dreams are the worst. They are constantly trying to gain attention which makes them impossible to avoid, so when I find myself an unwilling participant of one I'm not very surprised. Although this dream is slightly different this time. Instead of fitting in the category of past, present, possible future, or powerful force that my dreams usually consist of, there's nothing. Literally just pitch black, I mean there must be a floor since I don't seem to be floating or falling but that's it. Then, quietly at first, I hear something. 

A voice calling out, "Hello, is anyone there?" 

"I'm over here." I answer back knowing that it's an idiot move. There's a beat of silence then the sound of boots is followed by a man coming out of the darkness that surrounds me. He has light brown hair, a leather vest with some kind of bird symbol on it and a quiver full of arrows to go with the bow in his hand, weird for anyone outside of the camps, but it's possible he could be an Apollo camper that survived into adulthood. At first he looks relived to see that he isn't alone in this void until the relief quickly turns into suspicion. 

"Who are you?" He questions as he notices the black short sword hanging from my belt. I may be reckless but I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to tell a random stranger my name. Although I would prefer to avoid the question altogether, the way that the stranger's hand is creeping towards the arrows in his quiver tells me that I'll have to come up with another idea. 

"I'm the Ghost King, and you are?" I ask steely calm. He looks slightly annoyed that he didn't get the type of answer he was looking for but shrugs it off. 

"If we're doing code names then I'm Hawkeye." He replies, holding out a hand for me to shake that I accept. Even though living at camp and in the underworld is like living under a rock, in more than one way, it's kinda hard to miss an alien invasion on New York that was fixed due to a team of mostly humans. Will still won't stop talking about a certain archer named Hawkeye. 

"You're an avenger."  I say it more as a statement than a question, but he still chooses to answer. 

"Yes, why does it matter?" He asks skeptically. 

I can't help but smirk. "I'm going to help you and your friends."I tell him, thinking past to the quest I was just assigned. 

"I don't think my team mates would agree to accepting a child's help." He scoffs in disbelief  
  


My smirk turns into a frown and my voice loses all traces of joking. "Then I'm going to help all the people you fail to save by underestimating me." Hawkeye stares at me in astonishment as I turn my back on him and start to walk away.

"Wait, where are going?" He calls to my back. 

My smirk reappears on my face as I turn around to look at him. "I'm going to save the world of course."

 The edges of my vision fizzle as I wake up back in my bed in the Hade's cabin with no archer in sight.  I force myself up and head out of my cabin pausing only slightly as the afternoon sun blinds me. I start my search for a certain son of Apollo to inform him of our new quest featuring Earth's mightiest heroes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything Marvel or anything from PJO/HOO.


	3. Chapter 3

I head to the infirmary, hoping to find Will there  when some camper who isn't watching where they're going runs right into me. They lose their balance and fall into a heap on the ground. 

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there." I stare down at the boy who still hasn't picked himself up off the ground yet before offering him a hand up. "Hi Nico." He says quietly as he accepts my help. 

"Why such a hurry Solace?" I smirk at the son of Apollo standing before me. 

"I came looking for you actually." I raise an eyebrow in question. "A good doctor makes sure their patient doesn't turn into a pool of shadows after randomly disappearing at breakfast." I roll my eyes at his constant worrying. 

"I'm fine, besides we have better things to worry about." I'm interrupted by the camp's equivalent to a dinner bell (I've must have slept through lunch). "Meet me later; I need to tell you something." I decide to make my way back to my cabin when someone grabs my arm causing me to freeze. I look back and glare at the blonde nuisance. Let's just say his hand was removed rather quickly. 

"If it's so important then you can tell me about it up at the dinning pavilion." Will states and some how I don't think he will take no for an answer. 

"Fine." I relent as a large grin spreads over Will's face. I'm going to regret this I think while following him up to the pavilion with him checking to make sure I don't disappear every five seconds. 

I take a seat at the Hades table with Will sitting across from me resulting in more than a few odd looks. "So, what's this important thing you want to tell me?" 

"My father has issued a quest." Will fails miserably at keeping the look of complete and utter shock clear from his face. After a couple seconds he seems to compose himself and allows me to continue. I tell him the basics, how Hephaestus and some self important mortal messed with things that they had no right to along with my dream of Hawkeye. When he heard that I had met Hawkeye (even though in a dream and doesn't really count) he started to fanboy and only stopped when I reminded him that he would get to meet Hawkeye too.  When I finished he just sat there in quiet contemplation 

"Why am I going?" Will finally asks. 

"My father thinks that I disregard the side effects that come with shadow travel and need a doctor to make sure I don't over exert myself." I respond 

"He said that?" I don't know why Will would do so surprised. 

"Not in so many words, but yes." I was so focused on the quest that I didn't notice how many campers left for the campfire until now. "Meet me in the arena tomorrow morning, so that Mrs. O' Leary can take us to the Avengers." I tell Will as I get up and walk away without giving him the chance to say anything. 

I starts to head back to my cabin before deciding that I've slept enough today and instead change direction towards the woods. While an inexperienced camper is warned against going anywhere near the woods stocked with dangerous monsters, as a son of Hades I'm usually left alone. Somethings I even see the collection of trees as a safe haven. I guess that's why, when a a small gnome hobbles up next to me I'm more surprised then anything else. I watch slightly amused as he beats his chubby little fists harmlessly against my leg. 

"Die demigod scum." The gnome declares in its squeaky voice. I chuckle slightly under my breath before bending down and poking it lightly. Apparently gnomes don't have very great balance and the slightest touch causes it to fall on its back. "Ultron will be pleased when you are destroyed." It threatens as its tiny legs thrash about, trying to find a way to push it self up. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not completely heartless. I help the poor gnome up from his position on the ground, but before I let him go, I give him a message. 

"Tell Ultron that he doesn't have to worry about Earth's Mightiest Heroes because the prince of hell is going to kill him long before any mortal will." I didn't know that a gnome could make its tinny legs move that fast.   
My trip to the woods has been ruined, so I make my way back to my cabin hoping that I can get a little bit of sleep before the quest starts tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own HOO or Avengers even if I wish I did.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't want to wait for my inconsistent updates, a complete version of this story is available on both Fanfiction.net and Wattpad under the same name. Also on those websites is the beginning of the second book in this series and some of my newer writing (this is from over two years ago) which are much better written, I think.

I walk into the arena with my traveling bag only to be attacked by a big, black, slobbery blob.

"Get off of me Mrs. O' Leary." I wheeze. She thankfully listens and releases me. The sound of chuckling tells me that Will has already arrived, his own bag in hand. "Ready?" I ask the overly sunny healer.

"Yep." He responds way to peppy for for this early in the morning.

Mrs. O' Leary bends down so that it's easier to mount her. "Lets get this over with." I mumble as I climb on. Will follows my lead and when we are both boarded, Mrs. O' Leary starts running towards the wall.

My world is drenched in darkness and the temperature drops low enough to see my breath in the air. Then comes the voices. While most people (not like that many living people travel through the shadows often) find the words uttered by the dead souls that pass through the shadow realm unnerving, they are nothing compared to the moanful wails of the spirits who remain imprisoned in cages of darkness reserved for the few people born under the mark of the underworld. I start drowning in the whispers of lost souls and feel as my very essence starts to fade into nothing more than a wisp of myself. The feeling of someone's arms wrapping around me act like an anchor to pull me back to reality. I really hope Mrs. O'Leary knows where she's going, because I don't know how much longer I can resist the siren like voices. Finally black starts transforming into a light grey allowing colors to start bleeding through the darkness then the world of light comes into existence.

Although it looks cozy, a secluded farm house wouldn't be my first choice for the world's most famous heroes' base of operations. What should be a tranquil scene is ruined by the overly muscular, blonde, super soldier brandishing an ax in our direction. I look back at Will hoping he can do the talking, but the lack of color in his face makes it clear that he isn't feeling up to the task. Captain America lowers his impromptu weapon slightly as he takes notice of us and not just the giant dog that appeared out of no where.

"What was that?" Will practically shouts causing Mr. Star Spangle himself to drop the ax in surprise.  The super solider quickly retrieves his weapon as I slide off of Mrs. O'Leary's back instead of answering. 

"Excuse me, but who-" Captain America starts before Will holds up the universal sign for one minuet and stuns him into silence. Will tries to demount, but he hasn't quite recovered from shadow traveling and promptly falls on the ground. The Captain looks around in utter confusion, and I have a hard time restraining myself from busting out laughing at the entire situation. "Who in the world are you people?" The super soldier tries again.

Will gives me a 'we'll talk about this later' look before getting up and brushing himself off. I would have helped him, but phasing through him really wouldn't help my case at the moment.

"I'm Will Solace and this is Ni-" He's cut off by my elbow jamming into his side.

"You can call me the Ghost King." It's clear that Captain America isn't to pleased with my lack of a decent answer, but not even Will's pathetic death glare can convince me to willingly give my identity over to a secret government organization.

With Will being the peacemaker that he is; he automatically notices the traces of tension in the air, and rushes to resolve it. "Why don't we go inside, and we can answers any questions you might have." His words seem to have the opposite effect as Captain gets into a better defensive stance.

"This is getting us no where." I exclaim before expanding my senses, grabbing onto the shadow that the ax is casting, and pulling. The ax is ripped out of the hands of the super soldier and flys into mine. "Let's talk inside." I tell him, not really making it sound like a suggestion, as I walk towards the shell shocked avenger.

As I pass by the frozen man he comes to his senses and takes a swig towards my head. I duck under the ax blade, grab his wrist, swing around so that I'm behind him, and put one arm around his neck in a choke hold while the other holds his arm between his shoulder blades. He grits his teeth, but doesn't move. 

"Your going to have to try a lot harder than that to take me down; I'm not some fake Hitler that you can knockout with one punch." I release him from my hold and start heading in the direction of the petite farmhouse with Will shaking his head in disappointment following behind me. "You coming Twinkle Toes?" I call behind me when I reach the door. He shakes himself out of his daze, and pushes past us gruffly into the houses. We follow him in.

One look at the interior and it suddenly becomes obvious why he didn't want to let strangers into their base. If the drawings and crayons are any indication than not only civilians are living here, but children too.

"Who are they?" A familiar voice asks. I look in the direction of the voice to see three more people in a doorway with a red haired woman pointing a gun at me. Will almost hyperventilating with happiness beside me lets me know Hawkeye was the one to speak without even looking. "Ghosts King?" He continues completely confused.

"You know him?" Captain America asks in surprise while the other two people are just completely lost, but at least the lady lowered her weapon slightly.

"Yes, No, Maybe, I don't know. I saw him in a dream, but I don't know what he's doing here." Hawkeye tries and fails to explain. Thankfully I'm saved from having to come up with an explanation by another person throwing open the front door.

"I know how to find Ultron" The newcomer exclaims excitedly until he sees Will and I.

"Who are these kids?" He asks, his enthusiasm dampened slightly.

"Maybe we should explain a few things." Will looks around to see if anyone is willing to disagree with his suggestion. No one does, probably because everyone is too confused to know what the right response it. 

Explaining it is then. This is going to be a long quest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything. It all belongs to Rick Riordan and Marvel.


	5. Chapter 5

The Avengers watch us, waiting for the promised explanation. It starts getting awkward when a minute passes and no one is willing to start talking. Will turns to me for help, but I take a step back. He got himself into this mess. I'm not going to help him get out of it.

He sighs in annoyance. "What do you know about Gree-" I drown out his words with a sudden coughing fit. He glares at me out of the corner of his eye, but I pretend not to notice. "We're demi-" This time I stomp on his foot to prevent him from saying something he shouldn't. "Do you want to say something?" Will asks louder than necessary. Unfortunately his outburst startles the only female Avenger (I think her name is Black Widow) enough that she feels the need to train her gun on us again.

"What he's trying to say is that we're going to help you clean up the mess that a certain billionaire has created." I tell our audience, hoping that Will might catch on enough to keep the god talk to a minimum. Iron Man scowls at my accusation.

The hero mentioned is still standing at the front door; I watch as his expression flickers between defensiveness and guilt before finally settling on confusion. "But you're just kids." He states rather lamely.

I want to make a sarcastic remark about his blatant response, but I'm beaten to it. "A remarkable observation, Stark." A man dressed in all black, including his eye patch, says in what I think would have been a sarcastic tone if he didn't look so serious. Iron Man, or Stark, startles slightly before turning to see who snuck up behind him.

"Director Fury." Stark greets the new comer, not looking too concerned that a man wearing a gun on his hip just made him jump. I look at the other Avengers and find each of them all in different states of surprise, but none of them seem threatened by the man in black. While my attention shifted away from the man in question, his gaze becomes trained on Will and I.

"Will Solace and Nico di Angelo, I assume."

The director doesn't phrase it like a question, but Will decides to treat it like one."Solace"Will points to himself. "Di Angelo" He points to me.

Fury shifts his glance entirely to me. "Your father informed me that you would be here." Thankfully he doesn't seem to expect me to answer. "He also said that you might need these." He tosses me a pile of files connected by a rubber band. I catch them with ease when I hear the gun go off.

My time at camp pays off as I'm able to move enough so that the bullet that was heading towards my right arm only grazes me and became embedded in the wall behind me instead of my bicep. Within seconds all of the Avengers have some sort of weapon aimed at Will and I. Will, in turn, removes the mist that was hiding his bow and points an arrow at Fury. In fact, the only ones in the room that don't have weapons drawn are me, and now that he holstered his gun, Director Fury.

Instead of being worried that I was just fired on, a small smirk comes to my face. "If I knew that there was going to be a test I would have came better prepared." my voice is quite but, it sounds loud in the silent room. No one looks eager to say something, so I continue. "Did I pass?"

"Stand down." The director commands after moments of silence. All the avengers, though reluctant, lower their weapons. Will follows suit, but doesn't bother cloaking his bow and arrows in mist.

"You're bleeding." Will diagnoses without even looking at me. I stare at the blood running down my arm from where the bullet grazed me with a grim detachment. "I'll go get my first aid kit." He informs us as he walks out the door to get his bags from where we left them with Mrs. O'Leary. I don't even have time to argue that I don't need medical aid before he's gone.

I start reading through the files on the avengers I were just given when a voice I haven't heard speak yet catches my attention. "Can't you feel it?" I stare at the man confused. "The bullet wound." He clarifies. I look at the files in my hand until I find the one with a picture the man speaking. I start reading the basic information while I reply.

"No, I don't feel it Dr. Banner." He looks surprised that I know his name, but it's easy to remember when you have it right in front of you. Before anyone else can comment on my abnormal resistance to pain, Will comes back in with our bags in hand.

"Sit." Will pulls out a chair from the kitchen table next to us. "It wasn't a request." He says when I don't move. I begrudgingly take a seat very aware of the avengers trying and failing to hold back laughs. Will starts to dress the wound like any other doctor, but it's all for show. Better to not let the mortals know that gauze soaked in nectar can heal me in minuets. "Done." Will announces as he ties the bandages tighter that it needs to be.

I brush Will off and stand up. "Shows over." I grumble. "We have more important things to worry about."

"He's right." Captain or, according to his file, Steve Rogers agrees. "Lets go stop Ultron." I roll my eyes at his rally cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Marvel and Rick Riordan own everything I own nothing.


	6. Chapter 6

I trace the wood grain of the table that Will and I are seated at when a voice forces me to focus on the women in front of me. "You know who we are." The person who I now know is Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a Black Widow, says as she gestures to the pile of files Director Fury gave to me. "It's only fair that you tell us who you are and why you're here." 

After Fury left on some so called secret mission, the Avengers decided that Stark and Banner should try to figure out Ultron's next move while the rest of the team would stay at the farm house and interrogate Will and I. Now for the last hour Romanoff has been asking us the same questions over and over again, It's getting tedious. 

"True, but I've never known anything in the world to be fair." She grits her teeth at my answer. 

"Look, we're only here to stop the genocide happy robot same as you." Will says, probably trying to make up for my rudeness. Natasha chooses to ignore him and instead continues to glare at me. I don't think she likes me. 

"How do you know about Ultron?" Captain Rogers speaks up. I try not to laugh.........out loud...........I fail.

"You mean besides the fact that's posted all over the media?" Will gives me a disapproving glance. I consider allowing him to be the one to continue the conversation, but Will is a horrible lier. A side effect of having the god of truth as a dad. "My father is very powerful." Natasha raises an eyebrow in interest. "I'm not saying who he is." She crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, displeased. "When he heard about Ultron he sent us here to help. " I finish. 

"You're only kids, what could you do?" Steve echoes Stark's precious comment. 

"If you're worried about our ability then we would be happy to demonstrate, but I've seen your files and no one here has any right to judge us on age alone." A silence settles over the room like morning fog as everyone's gaze becomes fixed on me. 

"I'll take you up on your offer." Clint says, braking the silence. Black Widow sends a glare Clint's way, but he just brushes it off. "He's not wrong, and besides, if they're going to work with us then we might as well see what they can do." 

"Will would be happy to show you his archery ability." I volunteer. Will looks conflicted between being excited to show off to his hero and annoyed that I pulled him into this dispute. 

"Great, but we will have to go outside, my wife has a rule against using weapons in the house." Clint explains. I glance over at Natasha, waiting for her to object. She sighs in defeat. 

"Fine." She says. A large smile spreads across Clint's face. 

Will grabs his bow and quiver of arrow from where he put them on the floor next to him at the beginning of the interrogation while Clint collects a modern black compound bow from where it was discarded on a counter with his own quiver. Captain mumbles something about not being caught unprepared again before he leaves the room and comes back with the famous shield in hand. Gathering weapons before leaving the house, is it bad that this is normal for me? 

"Follow me." Hawkeye tells us.

Will and I are the first ones out the door, relived that we're no longer expected to sit still. this quest might just work out after all. My optimistic thoughts are shattered by the sound of happy barking. Pro tip, never forget about you giant monster dog when trying to gain the trust of paranoid mortals. Mrs. O'Leary starts running towards me when she suddenly stops. Her excitement instantly dies when she spots the 3 Avengers exiting the house behind us. She bends down like she's about to attack and gives a warning growl. The situation isn't helped by the trigger happy Black Widow who has her gun aimed and poised to shoot. I should do something. I don't want Mrs. O'Leary to get hurt and I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to let her maul Romanoff, what a shame. With a sigh, I step in between their little showdown. Not the smartest move, but it's effective.

"Out of the way." Natasha commands. I choose to ignore her.

"Heel Mrs. O'Leary. They're" I try to think of the right word to describe Clint, Steve, and Natasha. "acquaintances." I decide. Her fierce facade melts away. She cocked her head and smiles (can hellhounds smile?) perfectly content once again. 

"What is that thing?" Steve asks being the first to recover from their shock. He did see her earlier after all.

" _Her_ name is Mrs. O'Leary, andshe's my cousin's pet hellhound, but I take care of her most of the time." I explain like it's perfectly normal for someone to have a greek monster as a pet. The captain looks even more confused then before. I walk over and scratch behind Mrs. O'Leary's ears to give him a minute to collect his thoughts.

"Hellhound? Did they discover a new breed of dog while I was under?" Steve eventually asks. Mrs. O'Leary looks offend at being considered a common dog. 

Will laughs slightly before deciding to answer the question, finally. "No, she's a monster. the only friendly hellhound in existence." At least he left out the greek part out.

"Like werewolves and vampires?" Clint asks in disbelief. I try not to let my encounter with Lycaon come to mind at the mention of werewolves. 

"Werewolves yes, vampires not so much." Will responds vaguely. Clint looks at us like we're crazy.

"But they don't exist." He protests.

"Neither did aliens or Norse gods until they tried to take over the world." I tell him uninterested. At least they're be slightly prepared when we go to fight Ultron and his monster army instead of being paralyzed with shock like they were with Mrs. O'Leary. "Now, are you done gawking?" I ask them. Clint and Steve quickly tear their eyes away, but Romanoff continues analyzing me and my pet.

"The archery range is this way." Hawkeye mumbles just loud enough to hear. I order Mrs. O'Leary to stay and then we all follow after Barton. 

This way ends up being a large field behind the farm house filled with stereotypical red and white targets. The closest target is about 45 feet away from where I'm standing , the next one is maybe 15 feet behind the first and so on until the last target, which is so far away I can hardly see the rings. Will's ever present grin grows larger. Even though Will inherited his father's ability to heal above everything else, he should still be able to hit these stationary targets with ease. Will grabs an arrow from his collection, making sure the tip is iron and not something like imperial gold, notches it and takes aim at the first target. 

"Don't worry if you d-" Clint's words die in his throat when Will lets the arrow fly. It imbeds itself in the target with a thunk. Perfect bullseye. He does it again and again until he gets to the last one. When he releases this arrow I can't even tell if he made the shot or not. 

"I think I missed." Will states to no one in particular before running off to check.

"That's unlikely." I say to myself. The sound of someone clearing their throat behind me draws my attention to the three other on lookers. Steve seems surprised, obviously not anticipating an expert; Natasha tries to hide it, but it's clear that she's impressed, and Clint, well I don't know what he's thinking, he just stands there with a small smile. Maybe now they will stop pestering us with pointless questions. No such luck.

"Do you know where he learned to do that?" Clint asks.

"Of course." I tell him seriously.

A couple birds fly by over head as the grass dances in beat with the breeze. I allow the silence to stretch on for a few more seconds.

"Oh, you want me to tell you where he learned to shoot." I feign innocence. Barton nods, looking slightly vexed. "There's a summer camp we both go to that teaches it." I explain with the least amount of details possible.

"So you do archery too?" I have to turn to face Natasha while she talks. As soon as I open my mouth, about to respond, I'm interrupted by someone bursting into laughter.

"Neeks can hardly hit a target let alone a bull's eye." Will says between laughs as he rejoins us.

"I've asked you to stop calling me that." I huff, which, much to my frustration, only causes Will to beam brighter. Romanoff raises an eyebrow in amusement and gives Will and I a knowing grin. I wonder what that's about.

"If you aren't good with a bow then what can you do?" Steve guilds the conversation back on track.

"I'm a swordsman mainly, but I'm also proficient with hand to hand and throwing knives." I tell the group nonchalantly like it's something they would hear everyday, but who knows, maybe it is.

"A swordsman without a sword?" Rogers judges skeptically. 

A sly smirk spreads across my face. With a snap, I strip my nightmare black sword of the mist and shadows that had been making it nearly invisible. Pulling it from the scabbard on my waist, I reveal my Stygian Iron short sword in all it's terrifying glory.

"You mean this sword?" I ask smugly. The blade is three feet of deadly, sharp, gleaming metal that devours any light that ventures too close and the hilt is pitch black except for a single blood red ruby inlaid in it. I admit, I take more then slight pleasure in seeing the Avengers all unconsciously  taking a step away.

This time Natasha is the first to recover. "Anyone can buy a sword from online." She points out. I sigh in frustration. They've fought aliens and gods, so why can't they believe that a teenager can know how to use a weapon? "Prove it." She challenges. Oh, this is going to be fun.

I shift into a fighting stance. "I'd be happy to." Will steps out of the way and pulls Clint and Steve with him. 

Widow moves into her own defensive stance, ready to attack, but suddenly her phone goes off. She sighs then pulls out her iPhone (according to Leo) and holds it up to her ear. "This better be important, I was busy." She tells the caller. No one says anything as the person on the other side of the line answers. "It's about time Stark." At least we know who she's talking to now. "On our way." Natasha hangs up and stuffs her phone back in her pocket. We all turn to Romanoff, waiting for her to explain what the call was about. "They found Ultron." Everyone falls silent.

"Then we better suit up." Captain America finally breaks the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own characters or ideas that belong to Rick Riordan and Marvel.


	7. Chapter 7

We all go our separate ways to get what we need to fight Ultron. Will and I head to the kitchen to grab our bags while the others go off to do Zeus knows what. As I grab my armor and weapons from my bag I silently thank the Hecate cabin for enchanting my bag to be bigger in the inside. I tug on my black and red accented armor then proceed to put throwing knives, daggers, and other sharp objects in their specially designed holsters. I strap a canteen of nectar to my waist and fill the few pockets I have with ambrosia. I've decided against wearing my skull helmet since apparently scaring mortals is frowned upon. I turn to Will; I see that he has on his own imperial gold armor that he got from the Hephaestus cabin.

"Ready?" I ask. He slings his quiver over his shoulder and gives a nod

I'm about to walk out the door when Will calls after me. "Don't do anything stupid. Doctor's orders." I roll my eyes at him.

"Me? Do something stupid? Never!" If you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm.

"I'm serious Nico, no Underworldly magic. I mean it." I roll my eyes. Will Solace, always playing the good doctor. Why should he care what happens to me?

"You worry to much Will; I'll be fine."

I brush off his disapproving glance and walk out the door. The first thing I see is a jet, maybe it's a plane, I don't care, what do care about is the fact that it's clearly made for flying.

"I'm not riding in that." I state when Will comes up behind me.

"You don't have to." Captain America says as he walks down the ramp that leads into the jet.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Great, I'll meet you there. I just need an address." I call Mrs. O'Leary over to me so that we can shadow travel.

"Where do you think you're going?" Steve asks.

"I don't know, that's why I asked for an address. " I thought that was clear, but I guess not. Clint chooses this moment to walk into view.

"What he means is, you two are staying here." Don't Will and I have any say in this?

"Excuse me?" Will asks.

"This isn't your fight." Steve try's to explain like it'll make a difference. I can't help but respond with cruel laughter.

"Since when does protecting our friends, our family, our home, from a robot that wants to destroy the world stop being our fight?" My voice is steely calm and their's a chill in the air even though it's a warm, sunny day. After the second giant war, I finally have people who care me. Rodger's is just getting on my nerves by telling me I can't protect them for once.

"What he means is, we're not staying here." Will mocks. I give him one of my rare smiles, at least he seems to understand.

Rogers opened his mouth to say something when Natasha walks out of the front door of the farm house. "Are we going to go stop Ultron or are we just going to stand around glaring at each other?" Clint immediately disappears up the ramp, probably to get ready for take off. She walks past us and is half way to the jet when she stops to survey the scenes in front of her. "You told them they aren't coming didn't you?" Something tells me she isn't really looking for an answer.

"We're going." Will states again just in case no one heard him the first few times.

Black widow pinches the bridge of her nose almost like we're giving her a headache. "Look we can't fight effectively if we have to worry about keeping you two from getting hurt the entire time." She tells us as she continues to the plane.

"Says the one who backed out of our duel." I mumble. Natasha stops dead in her tracks.

"If you're so eager for me to hurt you then I'm happy to oblige." She pulls out her gun and aims it at me. She really needs some new threats. "What? I thought you wanted to fight." She taunts when she sees that I haven't moved. "You're all bark and no bite."

A ping echoes around us as one of my knives embeds itself in the haul of the jet. Romanoff reaches up to the shallow cut I made on her cheek. "Whoops. It slipped." I tell her. Her face goes red with anger. She looks like she's ready and willing to shoot me, so I decide to throw another knife aimed to force her to drop hold of her weapon. Instead Steve blocks it with his all American shield. That's not fair.

We probably would continue fighting if Will didn't stop us with his ultrasonic whistle. Steve and Natasha drop their weapons in order to cover their ears while Mrs. O'Leary whimpers in pain. I see Roger's lips moving, but I can't hear him over the ringing in my ears.

"What?" I ask once I can hear again.

"What was that?" He repeats rather loudly.

"Oh, that was Will. He's a special child." That explanation earns me a punch in the arm from Will.

"At least I'm not starting petty fights like a little kid." He scolds. It pains me to admit it, but Will's right. There's a pause as no one says anything.

"Sooo, can I have a location now or what?" I ask. Widow looks like she's about to say something. "I hope your going to give me an address and not go on a rant about why we can't go because if I have to battle you just to prove myself then fine, but I know how it will end and you're not going to like the outcome ." That may have came out more of a threat then I intended it to, and the shadows stretching unnaturally toward the jet aren't helping.

"It's one of Tony's labs." Natasha grabs a piece of paper and a pen from her bag and scribbles something down. "Here." She holds it out to me, but makes no move to bring it to me. I'm forced me to walk closer to the flying death machine and get it from her. I look at it and see that she wrote an address on it.

"Thanks." I say somewhat hesitantly. "Will, please take care of Romanoff's injuries, I'll meet you there."

"I can handle a little scratch, I'm fine." Natasha insists. Looks like offended her.

"Nico's knives are made out of a rare and deadly metal, so if you count having your soul being severed from your body as fine, then yeah, you're just peachy."Will interjects. Rogers open his mouth, probably to ask a question about the metal, but it's to late, Will has already gone into doctor mode. He starts pulling gauze and other medical supplies out of his kit. While he's destracted, I walk over, remove my knife from the side of the jet and then walk back to Mrs. O'Leary and climb onto her back. Before anyone even realizes what I'm doing, we've already disappeared into the shadows.

Time Skip

As soon as Mrs. O'Leary and I come out of the shadows, she automatically lays down. "It's okay girl. I know you're tied, go back to camp and rest." After she fades into the shadow, I look around at the rest of the room. Well no so much look, and more like follow my senses till I find the dying life line that caught my attention. It's a doctor.

Her eyes are wide, maybe because she just saw a giant dog magically appear and disappear, or more likely, because of her bleeding stomach wound. I stand there mesmerized by the wisps of death clinging to her, something I haven't seen much of since the 2nd Giant War a couple months ago. A gasp of pain brings me out of my trance. I grab a discarded lab coat off of a table and rush over to the dying woman. "Don't worry, help is on the way." What's taking Will so long? I use the coat to try and soak up some of the blood and put pressure on the wound. I've learned that much from be injured so much myself.

"Ultron." The lady chokes out.

"You're only going to make it worse." I don't have time to worry about my bedside manner. Despite my efforts to stop the bleeding, I can still she her life quickly draining away.

"Stop him." I want to protest that I needed to stay there and help her, but honestly there's nothing else I can do for her. I'm not a healer.

I consider the pros and cons of me leaving. "Don't worry, I will." I race to the nearest exit and start down the stairs, her blood staining my hands.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time I exit the stairwell, I find myself in the lobby, out of breath. Seriously. Who needs a building with so many floors? I'm getting distracted. Focusing back on the task at hand, I take a look at my surroundings. The lobby is of a simple design, a waiting area complete with chairs is on the far side of the room and is being used by one person with earbuds in. A receptionist is stationed closer to where I am, talking to another person, but I can't hear what they're saying. Over all, no Ultron in sight. Only one thing I can do now. Putting on what I hope looks like a kind smile, I walk over to the front desk where the two ladies are talking. 

"Excuse me." I interrupt the women's conversation. The receptionist turns to me and flashes me a welcoming smile. The other one smiles thinly before grabbing a magazine off a rack and sitting in the seat farthest from headphone guy. "This might be a weird question, but have you seen a robot go through here?" 

The receptionist shakes her head. "Not that I can think-" She does't even finish her comment as her eyes go wide. I follow her line a sight down to my hands that are still covered in the doctor's blood. An "Oh my" escapes her lips. Guilt surges through me. I'm an idiot, I was so focused on finding Ultron that I forgot to mention the doctor bleeding to death upstairs.

"Look, I need you to call for an ambulance, there is a lady on floor," I try to remember if I ever saw a floor number, but come up with nothing. "maybe 20 levels up who is injured." The receptionist's eyes somehow widen even more before she grabs the nearest phone and punches in three numbers. I turn away from her as she talks to someone on the other line, trying to think of what I should do next. Either I could wait for the avengers and Will to show up and hope Ultron hasn't gotten to far away, or I could leave now to look for Ultron on my own with no back up. 

"Sir?" The woman at the desk (I really need to find out her name) says to get my attention. I turn back just enough to talk to her. "Medics and the police are on their way." I find myself breathing a sigh of relief. "They said that they would like you to stay here so that they can ask you some questions." Instantly the relief I just felt is gone. One thing I don't need is to get cornered by the cops. Though I can't say that at loud, so instead I give a small nod. As soon as she turns away I hurry out the door, only stopping to wipe the blood off of my hands in the grass.

I make it a couple of blocks away when the sirens reach my ears.  Cars make their way over to the side of the road to allow the cop cars and ambulance to get through. The sirens fade rather quickly and the curbed cars go on their way, well most of them do. A large truck baring the name of the lab I was just at draws my eye. While the vehicles around it come and go, the truck doesn't move. I start walking closer when I hear a noise from behind me. The sound of metal hitting the pavement prompts me to draw my sword.

"Nico diAngelo?" A sickly sweet voice asks. I whirl around and point my weapon at the throat of the person behind me. People don't usually sneak up on me, and after seeing who it is only puts me more on guard. The woman standing on the the receiving end of my blade is the lady who was talking to the receptionist back at the lab.

"Who's asking?" I question. Now that I'm taking a closer look, I'm sure I've seen her somewhere before today. She has fiery red hair like Rachel, but no where near as curly, and stands so that more weight is one leg than the other which makes her come off as slightly lopsided.

"Did I really make such a fleeting expression?" Her lips pull up to make the smallest of smirks while her eyes looks me up and down before finally settling to look down her nose at me. "Especially after all the fun we had together in Tartarus." The very mention of that place sends shivers crawling along my spine. The woman, no thats not right, the monster seems to notice my discomfort. Either that or something else causes her smile to grow enough that I get a clear view of her fangs.

"Kelli." I hiss through my teeth. Now that I know who it is, all the cues that indicated her status as a monster becomes apparent. Her hair isn't flame red, it's real fire, her eyes that I had mistaken as a weird shade of brown burn bright red, and the only reason I saw her as lopsided was because there is a difference in length between her goat leg and her bronze prosthetic. All characteristics of an empousai, and not just any empousai, the worst one of all. Like a cockroach that keeps coming back no matter how many times you think you've killed it.

"Oh, so you do remember me." She coos. I try not to gag. 

"What do you want?" I ask sourly. 

"I'm just here to continue from where we left off." As if she already wasn't creepy enough. "I've been so bored since the twins took possession of you; it's been a while since I've had someone to torture." 

I have nothing I care to say to her and she looks so pleased with my lack of speech that silence settles over us. The stillness over everything is disturbing; I don't even hear any birds chirping. Eventually I can't take the eerie calmness any longer and end up doing something reckless. I attack the demon in front of me.

It might have been a good plan. Element of surprise and all, but empousia have monstrously quick reflexes. 

Kelli easily dodges. Then retaliates. She tries to take a chunk out of my arm. Instead she stumbles back, trying not to get a mouth full of my blade. I make my next move while she's unbalanced.

I drop down and kick out at her leg(the goat one not the metal one, that would hurt). With her balance already horrible it's like knocking down a tower of blocks. She doesn't have time to get up before I'm on top of her with my sword against her thorax and one of my daggers pointed at her stomach.

"Don't move." Instead of looking scared by my threat. Kelli still maintains her devilous smirk. I press my knife a little closer to abdomen.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She warns.

"Why not? Why shouldn't I end you right here, right now?" She seems to think it over for a second.

"Because, who ever said I was alone?" I takes me a second to understand what she's hinting at, but by then it's already to late.

Once again I hear the sound of metal hitting pavement behind me. Great more empousia. I turn slightly to see what I'm dealing with. Probably not the greatest idea. 

Kelli uses my being distracted to her advantage. Next thing I know, a metal leg kicks me in the chest and I'm forced off of her. I must have hit my head because black spots dance across my vision. At least I still have a grip on my sword.

The sound of metal comes closer, but instead of more empousia flanking Kelli as she looks down at me there are two robots. That wouldn't be very weird if she's working with Ultron, but it's my first time seeing the robots that apparently have a soul inside of them. I'm a little thrown off by just how wrong they feel. Immortal metal armor surrounding a dead and possibly corrupt soul. How could anything be more against my father's realm except maybe horcruxes, but I don't think they exist. 

"Grab him. Ultron wants to have a word with him." Kelli instructs to her newest lackeys. If they think it'll be that easy to take me wherever they're trying to take me then they're in for a surprise. 

I swing my sword in an arch, aiming for Kelli, but I wouldn't complain if I hit a robot too. Unfortunately that's not what happens. One of the robots block my blade with his arm, his arm for Zeus's sake. If that isn't bad enough, now my sword is stuck, and the robots are totally unfazed as grab my arms and force me up. I struggle of course, but their grip is strong; I won't be surprised if I'm left with bruises if I survive this. Only when Kelli is certain that I'm immobilized does she come close. She doesn't say anything, she just eyes me like I'm some prize she just won. Kelli runs her finger down the side of my face leaving a shallow cut from her nail behind.

"We shouldn't keep Ultron waiting." My two guards take Kelli's words as a sign to drag me over to the truck that I was trying to inspect a couple of minuets ago. Kelli opens one of the large doors at the back of the truck while the lackeys toss me inside. Literally. I hit my head again during the ruff landing.

When I can see again, I'm ready to call Kelli a couple names not quite suitable for children's ears, but the words die on my lips. The villain standing over my isn't Kelli. It's another robot, but this one is taller and is fashioned out of fancier metal most importantly he doesn't have a soul.

"Ultron." I mumble is reconition. 

"Hello son of Hades."


	9. Chapter 9

I use the wall to help me up and then as support when dark spots dance across my vision for a second. Like Hades I'm going to let Ultron look down at me.

Kelli and those cyberman wannabes step into the truck and close the large steel doors behind them. Another metal lackey must be up front at the wheel. There goes the hope of having a simple escape. On to plan B, distract until I come up with a better idea.

"So," I take half a step away from a weird, creepy, mechanical coffin. "what does kidnapping have to do with your scheme for world destruction?"

"Salvation." Ultron is quick to correct. Not like I care or am really listening. I'm more focused on getting away from this metallic freak. Shadow travel is out, I might get away, but so would Ultron and then it's back to square one. Ultron rambles on; I'm only catching a word here and there. And I can't summon zombies to help me since the truck is moving too fast for me to summon them. I pause in my planning when I notice what Ultron's rant not only involves the Avengers, but also the demigods. "What's that thing you humans say? Two birds, one stone?" He finishes.

Now I know why Kelli didn't just kill me when she had the chance. "I'm bait?" I clarify. Ultron doesn't say anything, he doesn't need to, Kelli's smirk tells me all I need to know. He doesn't just have a vendetta against the Avengers, but the demigods too, and he wants me to draw them all who knows where so that he can destroy them both. Last time this happened Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus soon after. Well not if I have anything to do about it.

In a spit second decision I shove the machine towards Kelli and the smaller robot's direction, trying not to be to unsettled by the fact that there is a body and something glowing inside it. At least for the moment the two are pinned against the wall giving me time to deal with Ultron next. I don't have access to my sword since last I saw, it was stuck in a metal arm. Instead I pull another knife (this one being celestial bronze) out of it's sheath in my boot and attack, well more like tackle. Under normal circumstances Ultron probably wouldn't have been fazed, but thankfully the truck goes around a sharp turn that knocks him off balance. Maybe the Fates don't completely hate me.

Of course that's when my luck takes a turn. A few quick bangs come from the ceiling. Almost like someone is running across the roof. The distraction gives Kelli and the two mini mechs their chance to get out from between the wall and the coffin (it's holding a body, so it's a coffin), and the first thing they do is come to Ultron's aid, who as soon as he no longer has a knife pressed to his neck, blasts the door off the back of the truck. I didn't know his hand had that feature. Hanging desperately onto the swinging door is none other than Captain America himself, so that's what the pounding was.

"You're late." I complain. I'm glad that the calvary is finally here, but I would prefer it if they could have came just a little later. Because of Steve's not so subtle entrance, I'm surrounded with Kelli behind me, the robot with my sword in his arm on my left and the other robot on my right.

Capt. uses his super soldier strength and momentum to swing himself into the back of the supply truck. Now there's even less room. I watch as he stupidly forms his famous red white and blue shield at Ultron who blasts it with a beam of energy coming from his hand. Since when could he do that? The shield heads back the way it came forcing Steve to move or risk getting nailed with his own weapon. Since Rogers isn't in the way to stop it, the shied flies out the back of the truck and into on coming traffic. With Steve being defenseless, I try to rush forwards and help only to be help back as two sets of metal hands clamp down on my arms.

"Not so fast." Kelli tuants. She's so close that it would be easy to land a blow on her, but all I can do is bide my time. After all, with the the metal lackeys flanking me it makes it easier to sense their twisted souls which gives me an idea. Though wether Steve lasts long enough for my plan to work is still up in the air.

At the moment he's relying on strength and looks like he's about to punch Ultron when his fist stops half way. I don't understand what he's doing. "Drop the knife." Roger's looking strait at me or rather at someone behind me as he says this. Something sharp hovers close enough to my throat that I can just feel the edge of the blade, the blade of what had been my knife before it got knocked out of my hand at some point.

A mechanical chuckle comes from Ultron. "That's not going to happen."

"Let the kid go Ultron." Hopefully Captian America won't do anything to get us both killed. I just need a little more time. Kelli moves the knife closer. I stiffen, even the smallest movement and I'll get nicked. "Ma'am, I'm going to have ask you to drop the knife." He tries again.

"You don't want me to do that." Kelli's smooth voice washes over me making my thoughts sluggish. Charmspeak. A simple realization and my mental barricades go up. A defense that I had Piper help me with.

Sadly Captain America doesn't have the same fortifications and is open to an empusa's silky voice. I can't do anything as I watch his eyes unfocus and glaze over. He unconsciously nods his head in agreement.

I just need to buy a couple seconds. "Snap out of it Twinkle Toes; she's-" The edge of the knife catches the edge of my skin. I remain silent less I end up with a sliced windpipe. At least Steve looks confused enough that he should't be completely under Kelli's spell.

"Don't listen t him." She reenforces her charm. Not that it matters. My plan is ready for action.

The soul of the robot on my left flickers before being sucked into my sword. I don't think I've ever been happier to see the properties of stygian iron at work. The now useless hunk of metal falls into a heap on the floor. Ultron, Kelli, even Steve are in such a state of confusion that no one stops me when I fling my head back and connect with Kelli's face. She really shouldn't have stood so close. As she staggers back, she drops the knife she took from me.

The other bot that's holding me hasn't released his grip, but also hasn't tried to subdue me. Still, I have to strain to reach my sword and yank it out of the lifeless droid.

The first one to actually try and stop my escape is Ultron. He shots a pulse of energy at me. I have to twist in the mini mech's grip just to avoid getting fried, but it still comes close enough to singe the bandage on my arm. From the pain that races up my arm when I move, I'm going to guess I strained something.

Not one of my finest moments, but at least Steve seems to have woken from his slumber. I wonder if it had something to do with breaking Kelli's focus. That's something I'll have to ask Piper about when I'm not in the middle of a fight.

I've wasted to much time failing at getting free. Kelli's back on her feet with nothing worst than a broken nose, and an evil glint in her eye. I think I might have made her mad. Oops.

On the bright side. Rogers has challenged Ultron, so I don't have to worry about dodging any more energy blasts while dealing with this she demon. Bad news, Kelli has the knife back and slowly making her way closer to me.

Once again I try to wretch my arm away from the walking trash bin, and once again I experience a sharp pain dance along the nerves in my arm. Kelli's savoring this moment. Why else would she just now reach me when she didn't have to walk more than maybe three steps. With a flick of the wrist; she tries to slash me with the knife. Instead it meets my sword. I'm not defenseless yet. Before I can counter attack, she has already moved out of range.

"No, no, no," Kelli scolds. "you don't want to do that, so why don't you just drop your weapon?" Another wave of charmspeak washes over me, but I manage to stay afloat.

"Your enchantments don't work on me."Kelli sneers at me.

"No, I suppose they wouldn't would they?" She makes a gestures to the lackey behind me. The robot hasn't moved for a while, but it does now to grab my other arm. The grip is so tight I'm forced to let my sword clatter to the ground. Not good. "That's better." Kelli praises. Though I don't know if it's considered praise if it's followed by a swift jab to the stomach.

I notice Rogers falters on his fight against Ultron when he sees Kelli looming over me. His worrying is going to get him killed. While he's distracted, Ultron lands a blow that makes the super soldier fall on his back with his upper body dangling dangerously close to the pavement. A new sense of pain pulls my attention away from Steve's impending doom.

The first thing I notice is blood, my blood, on the blade of my (Kelli's) knife.

I can hardly move in this robot's grip, Rogers is all but done for, and the rest of the Avengers are no where in sight. Yet I can't help but smile. I have blood running down my face, my neck, and mainly from my left arm, and I'm smiling. There's no doubt that I look like a maniac, maybe that's why I start laughing. Not a happy, everything is amazing laugh of course, but more of a dark, sinister, you better run laugh.

"You're going to have to do better than that." I pause in my hysterics just long enough to speak. For a moment I'm sure I see a glimpse of red. Guess it's time to go.

"Oh, but darling, we're only getting started." Kelli all but purrs. It's definitely time to leave.

I call out to the shadows in the corner of the truck, gathering them around me. Kelli's eyes flash in anger as she realizes what I'm doing. In a last ditch effort, she throws her (my) knife where I was right before the shadows swallow me up. I come out right behind Kelli who is to busy glaring at the dagger imbedded in the wall to even notice.

I turn towards Steve just in time to see that the flash of red is the Black Widow returning his iconic shield. Just in time too. Captian America uses it to deflect the blast Ultron had aimed at him. Since that's covered, I can turn my attention back the other fiery red head.

I reach out to the shadow of my sword and pull it toward me so that it flies into my open palm. The movement catches Kelli's eye. She spins around with the knife out, not that it helps. I stab her in the same place were she punched me. Before she can even scream, there is a burst of golden dust where she stood. The dust is easily absorbed by my sword, making for a quick clean up.

When I turn back to Romanoff and Rogers, Steve and Ultron are gone, and Natasha is standing in the back of the truck just staring at me. What did I miss?

"Look out!" Black Widow comes out of her shock just in time to warn me then launch herself at me. I wait for an impact that never comes. Instead I hear a clash of metal as she football tackles the remaining foe. He, she?, it was docile, but now I don't now how Natasha is avoiding the attacks aimed at her. I want to help, but I can't without risking injury to Romanoff. "Go!" she commands between punches. I hope this isn't her trying to get rid go me again. "Steve needs help." Now that makes for sense. Only problem is that I don't know where Steve went.

While Widow keeps the robot at bay, I expand my senses to look for an old soul that's been tainted by death. Found one. It either belongs to Rogers or some elderly daredevil, so I think I'll take my chances. I lock onto the soul's location and shadow travel to it.

Stepping out of the shadows, I find myself on a train. Almost instantly I notice the deplete in my energy supplies. It makes sense since I've been doing Under Worldly magic all day, but it's still disconcerting. Especially since I doubt my doctor with see it that way.

"Nico?" My head snaps up, expecting a monster, but instead I find Steve, a man with snowy white hair, and a girl with longer brown hair watching me. Oh great, they probably saw me walk out of the shadows.

"Sup." I try to play innocent. "So where's Ultron?" I change the subject when Rogers opens his mouth to ask a question i rather not deal with right now.

"He got way." The white haired boy says shortly with a thick accent that I'm not familiar with.

"But not before endangering these civilians." If I hadn't just heard it I wouldn't think it possible for perfect Mr. America to sound hateful. I only really not notice that the landscape outside is going faster than what's natural and it looks like we're about to run out of track. Steve must have realized that too. "We need to clear a path; can you do it?" Steve asks the boy who just spoke.

In the time it takes for me to blink, snow head is gone in a blur of blue and white. Hermes would be jealous. "What can I do?" The girl asks in the same accent as the other one. Steve doesn't say anything for longer than needed.

"Can you slow us down somehow?" I ask to save us all from the tension. She gives a quick not then thrusts her hands toward the ground. As red, smokey, wisps of magic bleed from her hands, we begin to slow down slightly. Speedy's taking care of the people outside, but train isn't stopping and there are still people inside.

"Can you do that thing with the shadows on a large scale?" Captain America takes back control of the situation. I don't think I like where this is going. "Can you use it to get these people out of here?" Only if he wants to risk me fading.

I don't know why, but pause instead of just saying no. Looking around at the people who were unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire, I can't help but notice at least one child. A little girl with strawberry blonde hair and dark green eyes wide with fear, standing next to who I assume are her mother and father. She couldn't be more than ten or eleven. Clutched in her hands like some kind of life line are a deck of card from the same game I was obsessed with at that age. I hardly know what I'm doing as I find myself saying "Yes, I can do it, but I need everyone to be touching."

Steve gives me an odd look, but doesn't question me. "Everyone grab hand of the person next to you!" He yell over the shouts of terror, the few people here and there that are crying, and even one person that is praying rather loudly. While everyone's busy grabbing the hand of their neighbor, I grab my canteen of Nectar.

I'm surprised I haven't lost it. I drink from it until the present warm feeling starts turning into a burning sensation. The blue birthday cake flavor spreads across my tastebuds. I close my eyes, savoring the memory from before I found myself fighting in a war every six months. Energy bubbles up in me, and I can feel my multiple cuts begin to heal over. Well it's now or never.

When I open my eyes, I come face to face with the Mythomagic girl holding her hand out to me. I don't know why she isn't with her parents, but I gently take her hand anyways. On the other side of me is the girl that reminds me a lot of a daughter of Hecate. She's still focusing on using her power to slow us down. At the last possible moment I grab ahold of her and shadow travel away.

I can feel my body trying to fade into nothing. If I hadn't had all that Nectar then I don't think we would have lasted this long. My vision turns black, and I have a feeling it's not just from the lack of light. As soon as it began it ends.

I don't feel us land. I can only feel the sunlight and the faint presence of a tiny hand trying to hold onto me. My legs give out, and I fall to the ground. Steve comes to stand over at some point. His mouth moves, but no words reach my ears. Will is going to kill me. I wouldn't be surprised if he escorts me to my Father's realm himself, that is if I survive this.

The last thing I see are a pair of bright green eyes staring into my dark brown ones.


	10. Chapter 10

**Will's Point of View:**

Clint repeatedly asks over comms if Steve can see Natasha. He's been looking for eyes on the spy since she disappeared after dropping something called the cradle off with us. Now the machine that Ultron is so desperate to get his hands on is in the back of the jet and static is the only response we're getting. 

Then, with a finial crackle, Steve's voice comes through the headset I was given (after much pestering). "We need an extraction," a pause " Nico's down." Clint lets out a sigh, but changes course. 

"What happened?" I question. That idiot better not have shadow traveled or raised the dead. 

The beat of silence as Steve considers my question lasts too long. "I don't know; he teleported." I don't let him finish. Instead I cut him off with a curse under my breath. 

I told Nico not to use Underworld magic, but nooo. Why in the world would the son of Hades actually listen to his doctor? "We're three minutes out from your position." Clint comments. 

"Try to make it two; he doesn't look to well." Steve urges. The jet rapidly gains speed. I have to grab onto something just to keep myself from face planting on the steel flooring. 

Barton was true to his word. Less than three minutes later, we arrive at the place Steve's locator says he will be. Out the front window I can see people hurrying out of the way so that we can land. We hit the ground with a jolt. I have my medical kit in hand and am exiting the jet before the ramp is fully open. The crowd isn't too bad, but there are still enough people that the only reason I know where to go is because Steve towers over everyone else. I weave around people until I reach a circular clearing in the crowd with Nico laying in the middle. Steve was right, he doesn't look very good.

Nico's longish hair fans out like a halo around his head. The dark black clashes his noticeably paler than usual skin color, which is saying something since he normally has the complexion of a vampire. His faint olive coloring is all but faded, making him look more translucent than healthy. "Have you tried to move him?" I'm not sure I want to know the answer. 

"No."

I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Why not?" I try to take a step forward since it looks like the Avenger isn't going to do anything. Without demigod reflexes, I'm sure I would have ran into the small girl that might as well have materialized in front of me. 

"That's why." Steve explains. 

Blocking my path to the unresponsive boy is a young girl with wavy, shoulder length, reddish blonde hair. I try to go around her, but she moves to disrupt my path again. She changes her stance to cross her arms tightly across her chest making it clear that she isn't expecting to let anyone through. With a resigned sigh, I crouch a little so that we're closer to the same size. "That's my friend over there; I need to get to him." I try to reason. The kid tightens her grip on something in her hand and starts to chew on her bottom lip. Yet she still doesn't move. "I'm his doctor; I can help him." This time she looks directly at me with deep forest green eyes. A nod, so small that that I almost miss it, tells me I'm allowed through. 

I straightened up and finished the walk over to the sone of Hades. I kneel down next to him. When I go to grab his hand (for medical reasons) I phase right through him. This isn't good.

"We should get him back to Dr. Banner." Steve doesn't sound like he's gotten any closer. Probably still can't get through the little girl. "He needs a doctor." 

"I'm his doctor." I begin to dribble a couple drops of unicorn draught through Nico's slightly parted lips at a time. He has a couple cuts and bruises, but it's nothing to drastic; I'll deal with those later, right now I need to focus on his fading. 

"A real doctor." Steve suggests. I stop giving Nico the medicine so that I can turn back to stare at Steve in astonishment. Even my dad seems to be offended. I can tell by the way that the sun is only shining directly into he eyes of the Avenger. Captain America is forced to shield his eyes with his hand to protect his retinas. The little girl playing guard laughs at this.

"No so called real doctor will know how to treat Nico's condition." I probably sound bitter, but I think it's warranted. 

"Condition?" Steve stops trying to get through the one girl barrier. 

If I wasn't so sure that Nico is unconscious; I would think he was listening. What other explanation could there be for such perfect timing. As if to answer Steve's question, the unicorn draught begins to take effect. The shadows are expelled in a circle around the pale Italian. I activate a bit of my healing magic to protect myself from the spreading ring of decay. Steve takes a step back, clearly he doesn't have any idea what's going on. The grass withers and dies all the way up to the edge of a pair of lilac sandals. A slight olive hue returns to his skin, but his eye remain shut. 

The spontaneous browning of the vegetation draws attention. I can't work with all these people glancing over at us in confusion. We need to move Nico before our exit is blocked. A presence appearing beside me draws me out of my thoughts. The girl has abandoned her post to come over and join me at Nico's side. 

The child reaches out to place something in Nico's open palm. miraculously it doesn't go through him. A second glance reveals that it's a Hades card from that game Mythomagic. That must have been what she had in her grip. I can't help but smile as she turns to me and hands me a card too. This one having a drawing of Apollo on the face of it. If only she knew how close to the truth she is. 

"We should go." Steve must have recovered from his shock. He's right. I shouldn't have lost focus. 

"Agreed," the blood flows through my legs when I stand up "but we may have trouble moving Nico."

"What's the problem." Steve actually looks worried. "I though he was just tired." 

Ha! "More like exhausted, but that's not the problem." I correct. "Nico may or may not be tangible at the moment." 

The little girl stands up now. "Like a ghost?" She asks . For a moment no one says anything. I guess they are as surprised as me that she decided to speak.

"Yeah, like a ghost." She beams, clearly proud of her analogy. 

"Then maybe I can help." I didn't travel much as a kid, and being a demigod limits me from traveling now, so I have no idea where the accent that spoke is from. The person offering to help is female; she has longer, light brown hair and a determined look about her. 

"Hi, um, and you are?" What else was I supposed to say? A random girl shows up out of nowhere claiming that she can move a person that can't be touched. That's weird even by demigod standards. 

"Will, these are the Maximoff twins." Steve introduces. I didn't notice it before, but the man standing behind Steve does sorta resemble the girl. Except for the fact that his hair is snow white. 

"I'm Pietro; she's Wanda." Pedro clarifies with the same accent as his sister. 

"And I'm Ashley." The little girl pipes up. Wanda gives her a small smile. 

"Sorry, how are you going to move him." I bring the conversation back on track. 

Wanda lifts her hand. A red mist like substance flows from her fingers and creeps toward the Son of Hades. "You don't look surprised." Pietro points out. 

I just shrug, still watching as the red smoke lifts Nico off the ground. "I've seen weirder." An image of Lou Ellen turning a group of Romans into swine comes to mind. Thankfully the white haired man doesn't question me anymore. 

The rest of the super human group leaves with Nico to put him on the jet, but I say back for a moment. "Is he going to be okay?" Ashley asks. I turn toward the red blonde haired girl. 

"He'll be fine." I assure her. "He has to be." I say it more to myself. 

"He saved my life." Ashley bends down to where the the Hades card fell when Nico was moved. She picks it up and hands it to me. "Will you give it to him?" I take the card from her and nods. It, along with my Apollo card, goes in my medical bag for safe keeping. 

"Will, we're ready to go!" Steve calls over the crowd. 

"Okay, be right there!" I yell back. Ashley covers her ears to block out my loud voice. She doesn't uncover them until I motion that it's okay to do so. "We have to go; you should go find your parents." A flash of sadness, maybe fear, crosses her face then disappears all in an instant. 

"Okay." Her voice is smaller now. I was planning on offering to help, but she slips into the crowd without another word and vanishes among the people. I cast one more quick glance back in the direction that she went then I head to the jet. I have a patient to take care of. 

* * *

 

Clint went ahead with the cradle, so Pietro, Wanda, Steve, Nico, and I ride in a different jet to meet up with Bruce and Tony. I don't know the name of the agent acting as pilot. No one made a move to tell me and I'm too busy with Nico to ask. The unicorn draught I gave him helped, but he still hasn't woken up. "How's he doing?" Steve asks when we begin our descent. 

"Well he's not see through anymore." Captain doesn't look very comfortable with my bluntness. 

The jet lands before he can ask me anything else. Wanda used her magic to move Nico while Steve leads the way. We end up in a state of the art hospital like room. Wanda lets Nico down on a bed in the corner of the room. I turn on all the lights as I enter the room in order to drive away the shadows. 

The twins have been silent ever since they heard we were coming to a Stark facility. That leaves only Steve to question my actions. "Shouldn't was get Dr. Banner?" He asks. 

"No." Is my automatic answer. A doctor who doesn't know the patient is useless compared to one that does. Steve raises his hands in surrender. 

"Can't we at least try to wake him up; he looks dead." I roll my eyes. The son of Hades always looks that way. 

"You can try, but I don't recommend it." 

The super soldier chooses to ignore my warning. We watch as Steve walks up to the bed. Of course as soon as he touchs Nico something goes wrong. I know from experience not to wake a sleeping Son of Hades. His training kicks in and Nico punches Steve right in the nose. Nico's eyes don't open. 

Steve's nose isn't broken, but he still staggers back in surprise. I bite back an "I told you so" which is fine since Pietrolaughing in the background says it for me. "We'll leave this to you." Steve decides. His voice sounds a little nasally. He exits the room; Wanda and Pietro follows. 

"Are they gone?" A voice asks from the corner. I spin around and find myself meeting the darkest chocolate town eyes I've seen. I breathe a sign of relief. "Well?" Nico asks again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains Italian, a language that I don't speak so all translations came from Google translate. I'm sorry if they aren't correct. Also, there is mention of discrimination against Italian. This is not based on my own views, simply what I found about World War II on the internet. Okay, that's all. Enjoy the chapter.

** Back to Nico's point of view: **

Where am I? I shadow traveled then... Am I dead? My breathing quickens and my legs go weak. I fall to the ground. My hands clutch at the grass, wait, grass? There I'm isn't any grass in the Underworld; at least none like this. I must be dreaming. The sudden realization doesn't make me feel any better. I really hate demigod dreams.

I look around at the scene I find myself in. I'm sitting on the side of hill overlooking a vaguely familiar town with the sun beginning to set. "Hurry up fratellino!" A girl calls behind her as she comes over the ridge.

The girl has almost, if not, black hair and dark eyes that reflect the sun. She reminds me of "Bianca!" My eyes go wide. "Wait for me!" A young Nico trails after her. He looks happy chasing after Bianca. He hasn't gone through the things I have. He isn't broken like I am; at least not yet. Bianca slows to a stop. She waits, but every few seconds she glances nervously at the setting sun. Past me is out of breath when when he finally reaches his, no, our sister. "Cosa c' e?" Younger me asks. He noticed Bianca's discomfort as well.

She forces a smile and shakes her head while ruffling past Nico's hair. Somehow he buys it. "Race you." Bianca takes off running and he follows close behind.

The dream fast forwards to the edge of town. The sun has almost completely set by the time Bianca shows up with me right behind her. They stop just outside the light cast by street lamps. Past Nico makes to move into the light, but Bianca stops him. She notices something he doesn't. A group of boys, maybe four or five of them, that fell silent when they notices the Italian siblings. Their eyes are trained on the two kids like hawks. I can feel the tension even after all these decades have gone by. Younger me doesn't pick up on the hostile environment.

Off in the distance a clock begins to chime. My sister's eyes widen in fear. She grabs past me's arm as though she's about to drag me away when the group of boys block the path. Nico is pushed behind her, not that it helps. The boys surround the duo. I want to help, but find that no matter how hard I try, I can't move, nor can I hear what's being said over the chiming of the bell, though I doubt it's very friendly. After a couple more tolls it stops.

"Looks like you missed curfew." One of the boys jeers.

"You're right; we should be going." Bianca's polite, but her clenched fists give away how she really feels.

No one moves to let the siblings go on their way. "What are these?" The youngest boy sneers. He grabs a deck off cards sticking out of young Nico's pocket. Nico yelps in surprise as the cards scatter all over the ground. He bends down to grab one of the cards only to have to snatch his hand away from an incoming shoe. The card gets ground into the dust. The rest of the boys begin to take notice and laugh.

"What are you doing with these?" An older boy than the last asks. He grabs a card from the ground and hold it up. I can just make out what looks like Captain America printed on it. The kid isn't given an answer.

"Don't you know Captain America kills dirt like you?" He tries again. Tears well up in past Nico's eyes.

"That's enough, don't listen to them Nico." Bianca butts in. She isn't pretending to be nice any longer.

"Oh, and what are you going to do?" The boy takes a step closer. He must be the leader.The shadows quiver, though I don't know which child of Hades is responsible. "That's what I thought." He mocks when he doesn't notice Bianca doing anything.

"Break it up." A new voice says sternly from the shadows. The newcomer peels away from the dark. "I think it's time everyone went home.

The leader of the gang of boys scowls. He spits on the ground in front of Bianca, none to quietly mutters something that sounds  lot like "Nazis", and walks away. His posse follows.

Bianca's face switches from anger to being emotionless as she turns to their hero. The figure steps into the light. "Papa!" Nico smiles widely even though there are tears still streaming down his cheeks. Bianca ignores her father in favor of trying to collect what cards she can salvage.

She hands them to her brother. "We should be getting home." Bianca's voice has gone cold. She places a hand on Nico's shoulder and steers him towards the direction of where I assume "home" is.

Again the dream skips forward. This time I find myself in a kitchen. At the table Hades and a woman sit. I can see Nico ease dropping out of view. "Have you heard from your sister?" Hades asks in a hushed tone.

The woman sighs. "Not since her husband was drafted." Her hands are shaking just like Bianca's were earlier in the dream. "Off to fight Captain America she says." She laughs humorlessly, using sarcasm to mask her worry.

"Maria." Hades takes her, my mother's, hands in his own. Maria gives a small smile.

"You have to leave." It isn't phrased like a question. Father looks away.

"Zeus is getting suspicious; I don't know when I'll be able to visit again." My mother gives him a nod of understanding. Younger me doesn't have the same resolve.

Nico runs out of his hiding spot and tackals our father with a hug when he stands up to go. My eyes just about pop out of my head when Hades returns the gesture. "Are you leaving again?"

Hades lifts his head and starers at me, present-day, 21-century me. "Everyone has too leave at some point."

Bianca enters the room, wiping the sleep out of her eyes as though she was woken up. "That's not true; I'll never leave you Nico." Her retreating form dressed in a silver parka and carrying a bow comes to mind.

"Promise?" I can't help but think of the moment when I learned that Bianca chose rebirth, leaving me for a second time.

"Promise." Father has a sad look in his eyes as though he can see the vow shattering to pieces in the future. Who knows, maybe he can.

"Okay, okay, it's time for bed i miei figli." Mother orders. Nico and Bianca complains, but does as she says.

Maria gives them one last smile before everything begins to fade. The color leaches from the dream like an old, washed out photo. "No," I whisper as my world turns white. "come back, please." The memory disappears completely. "You promised."

The bright white is suffocating. It's almost like I'm back in the jar or in that place, just much brighter. There's no shadows to hid in here. Suddenly I feel something touch me. My automatic response is to lash out. I wasn't expecting to make contact.

The dream shatters, but the white doesn't go away. I can feel it burn through my eye lids. A low buzz reaches my ears. It sounds like Steve, but I can't make out the words. I don't care to see the super soldier after that dream, so I keep my eyes closed. The dull thud of foots steps go away before I open my eyes. "Did they leave?"

Will jumps and spins around. His expression goes from surprise to relief to anger and then settles in shock. "Well?" I have to ask again. Will stares at me, but doesn't answer.

"You're crying." He says out of no where. I reach up and find that my cheeks are damp. I quickly wipe any traces of tears away.

"I'm fine." I try to end the conversation. Will huffs, but doesn't say anything for now.

"You could have died." Will states.

"Is that why it's so bright in here?" I joke to try and ease Will's anger. It doesn't work. "Oh come on, you can't be mad at me." Besides forcing a canteen of unicorn draught into my hands, he ignores me. "I was saving people." I explain. Will is too busy searching through his names bag to care. He must find what he's looking for because he stops.

"Here." Will holds out a playing card to me rather harshly. A Hades Mythomagic card. "The girl."

"Ashley, her name was Ashely, but you wouldn't know that because you shadowed traveled more than you could handle and almost died." I go to say something. "Again." Will finishes. My mouth snaps shut. He takes a deep breath, calming down. "Was it a dream?"

I take a sip from the canteen. " I don't want to talk about it."

"No, you don't get to do that." I look up at Will in surprise. "I'm sorry Nico, but I can't help you if you won't tell me what's going on." He's always been a little pushy, but never this bad.

"Why would you care?" I say it quietly.

"Because I'm your friend Nico; I have a right to care. Now, was it a dream?" His piercing blue eyes search my face for an answer. I'm still reeling from his sudden out burst and can only nod. "Was it that place?" His voice goes back to the soft one that I'm used to. Will is careful not to say the name.

"No." It comes out almost like a squeak. Will motions for me to take another sip of unicorn draught. "A memory, I think."

"You think?" Will moves to sit on the edge of the bed I'm in. Sometimes I forget that whole camp isn't aware of my dip in the River Lethe.

"My father had to erase my memories when I was ten. Sometimes I have these dreams. They seem so real." Will doesn't look like he entirely understands, but he doesn't push.

"Okay, what was this possible memory about?"

"My sister." I turn away so that I don't have to worry about seeing the look of pity I always see anytime my Bianca is mentioned.

"She died on a quest after joining the hunters right?"

"Then chose rebirth, yes." I still refuse to look Will in the eye. "She promised that she would never leave me, but she did; they always do." Reyna left to continue her pradertor duties, Hazel left to be with Frank at Camp Jupiter; I haven't seen either since right after the war, and I can't even remember my mother before death forced her to leave. I don't let any tears fall though.

"What else?" Surprisingly Will is a pretty good listener.

"I was an Italian in America during World War II. Captain America, my current team mate, fought, maybe killed, relatives I can't even remember." My words are jumbled and incoherent. Thankfully Will seems to understand. He puts an hand on my arm, causing me to jump. He doesn't move it.

"Thanks for telling me."

"Thank you for listening." I surprise myself when I realize that I actually mean it.

The therapy section gets interrupted by a loud Bang! A gun shot. "We should go check that out." Will suggests, standing up. There's a cold spot where his hand had been. 

Looks like I'm getting discharged early. 

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

Getting discharged is easier said than done when you have the over protective Will Solace as your doctor. First he has to make sure I wasn't fading any more than before. Then he wants to check my blood pressure muttering something about diets or whatever. I've had it by the time he pulls out his stethoscope "That's enough Will; I'm fine." I prove my point by swinging my legs over the side of the bed and standing up. "See, fine." I don't like that we're doing nothing while an attack could be going on somewhere in the building.

  
Will bites his lip in thought. "Okay, you're free to go, but remember,"

  
"Don't use my powers unless it's an absolute emergency." I cut him off. "Yeah, I know."

  
"Well if you knew then we wouldn't be having this conversation in the medical bay." I open my mouth to make a snark remark back only to close it a second later. Even if I did have a come back, it wouldn't be worth getting into an argument over. Besides, I have to let Will get his way sometimes or I would never get to see his face light up with his satisfied smile. "Are you coming?" Will's voice resonates through my thoughts. He is almost out the door and has his back to me.

  
I nod absentmindedly to answer his question even though he can't see me. I use as little amount of power as I can to reach into the shadows and claim my sword. Will's words come back to mind, but retrieving my weapon is absolutely necessary. I look towards the door way and see that he'd left so I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword and run after him.

  
As I run down the long corridor after Will, I hear voices shouting. All of a sudden everything becomes absolutely silent. From experience I know that when action goes quiet something not particularly good just happened. A sigh escapes me as I pick up my pace to find what's at the end of the hallway.

  
I get here just in time to see Thor throw some red guy through a glass wall. Everyone seems to go quiet as we all wait to see what his intentions are. I keep my muscles tense, ready to fight at a moment's notice. The red guy floats towards all of us and change his skin to make it seems like he's wearing a bodysuit. I glance over at Will on my right just to make sure that he's seeing this too. With the honor of being a demigod, you see some pretty weird things, and I've seen more than most. I just want to reassure myself that I'm not seeing imagining anything.

  
"I'm sorry, that was odd," the red guy says after a moment.

  
"Yeah, not just for you," Will comments loud enough to turn all attention on us. The gazes of both Rogers and Thor have me backing up until I'm hidden in the shadow, hiding from the people I want to see least right now. "Sorry, I don't think we've met," Will introduces. He walks toward the red guy, who I note doesn't seem to have a soul, and the god of thunder with an outstretched hand. I have to stop myself from coming out of my hiding place and stopping him. "I'm Will," Thor raises an eyebrow in interest. "And this is," Will glances back at where I had been before settling on the darker shadows that I'm standing in. He rolls his eyes, grabs my wrist, and yanks me into the light. "This is Nico," as soon as he mentions my name, Thor's eyes spark with excitement and lightning.

  
I stand in awkward silence, waiting to be stuck down by Zeus's Norse counter part. "Young warrior!" He completely ignores Will and takes my hand in his grip. "I have heard many stories about you on Asgard." He shakes my hand so hard that I'm surprised my feet stay on the ground. I'm so surprised that I can't think of anything to say.

  
"They tell stories about this guy?" Stark laughs from his place on the platform above the rest of us (excluding Banner).  
"Of course," Thor shouts, releasing his grip on me and turning to his team mate, "he has defeated many foe!" Stark lets out a puff of air in disbelief, but goes back to what ever he was doing.

  
"I don't know about fighting, but that thing you did on the train was," the girl from the train pauses, "unexpected."  
"You just had to bring that up," I groan. I had been hoping that everyone would forget about my slip up with my powers.

  
"Thing on the train?" Banner speaks up.

  
"It's nothing, there are other things to worry about, like the fact that you're down a team member, or that you got a new one." I gesture towards the red soulless life form.

  
"Nico is right, Ultron is still out there," No soul man agrees.

  
"He did this thing where he teleported a group of people and then passed out," Rogers acts like Banner was the only one who spoke.

  
I don't have to look up at the platform to feel the Hulk's other ego staring down at me with a worried look that I usually get from Will. "I used up a lot of energy; I'm fine now, let's move on," I, well I wouldn't say begged, but something close to that. Anything to change the topic.

  
"Nico and Vision are right, Nat's still out here," Clint speaks up. At least someone was listening.

  
"You found her?" Will prompts.

  
"I have her coordinates, but we still have no idea what Ultron is planning," Clint tells us. A lot's happened while Will and I were in the infirmary.

  
"I may be able to help with that," the red man, I guess his name is Vision, offers.

  
"And why should we trust you?" The speedster spits out. "You're one of Ultron's creations." If possible, Vision appears offended by snow head's accusation. I don't know what's going on between those two, but nothing will get done if these mortals don't learn to get over their distrust.

  
"Just an hour ago you worked for him too, maybe it's you two we shouldn't trust," Stark argues back the same time that Thor says, "He is worthy to pick up Mjolnir; he can be trusted." Somehow neither statement makes me feel any better.

  
"You didn't read his thoughts; I did," the girl is visibly shaking at the memory. The racer puts his arm around her in what I think is supposed to be a comforting act. "Nothing but death and destruction." No one knows what to say to that for a long minute.

  
Vision is the one to break the silence. "I am truly sorry that you went through that ordeal, but I am not that man," he takes a step towards her and she raises her hands, oozing with magic, in defense. "Please, check again if it will ease your mind."  
She hesitates, everyone watching to see what will happen. She sighs. Then she holds her hands near his head and closes her eyes. "He's telling the truth," the girl tells her white haired friend when her eyes reopen. Did she just read his mind? I share a look with Will, the meaning clear. This could turn out to be a problem.

  
"If that's settled, I'm going to go prep the jet." Clint walks toward the exit then stops. "If it's okay with you Capt., I'd like to debrief on the way." Rogers gives him a curt nod and Hawkeye continues on his way.

  
"Well, you heard him, wheels up in twenty," Captain America orders.

  
Thor leads Vision away, whispering about who knows what while Rogers heads up the ramp toward Stark. He doesn't look happy. "So, she can read minds." I find that I'm messing with my skull ring.

  
"Wanda?" Will clarifies. "I guess." That's all that's said on the subject.

  
"Excuse me?" The doctor pardons, nearly causing me to draw my sword. How can the Hulk be so quiet? "They mentioned you falling unconscious."

  
"And I said that I'm fine," I respond rudely, crossing my arms and turning away.

  
"Nico," Will warns. "What he means is that I already tended to him," he explains in nicer terms.

  
"He was shot earlier and now this, I understand that you're his doctor, but I really must insist," Banner reasons, but I tune him out. I'm more focused on the super solider that is coming this way with a scowl marring his features. I really don't want to talk to Rogers right after that dream I had, real or not. Will might have said something back, but I don't hear it.

  
"I don't want or need another check up, so if you'll excuse us, we'll be getting ready to leave." Will gives an apologetic look for my behavior before I drag him away.

  
I don't slow down until we're out of the room altogether. "Nico, stop." Will digs his heels into the ground, giving me no choice but to listen. "What was that about?" He puts his hand on his hip like he's scolding one of his younger siblings or Percy.

  
"I didn't want to talk to him right now." I stare at my feet, finding them interesting for the moment.

  
"Who?" Will can be so clueless sometimes, well, most of the time. The hopeless idiot.

  
"Steve, Will, I don't want to talk to Rogers," I blurt out. I glance up long enough to see the moment that everything clicks for him.

  
"Okay, but you didn't have to be so rude to Dr. Banner," Will softens. "Even if he was undermining my medical abilities." A small laugh escapes me. "Oh, and Nico?"

  
"Yeah?"

  
"You can let go of me."

  
My face heats up; I didn't realize that I had been still holding his hand from when I swept him away. "Sorry." I pull my hand free.

  
"You know," Will starts, "I just thought you were worried about flying in the jet."

  
"Flying!?"


	13. Chapter 13

By the time the jet touches down, my hands have cramped up from clutching the nearest thing strapped down during the ride. Just because Zeus answered my prayers to not zap us out of the sky, doesn't mean he spared up from what I think was an unusual amount of turbulence. "Hey, are you okay?" Will asks concerned.

"I hate flying," I growl. Will laughs like I made a joke, then excuses himself to go grab something he left on the death trap. 

While he's doing that, I take the chance to try and force my breathing back to normal and observe the scattered Avengers and company. Clint and Banner are farthest away, discussing something that involves Natasha and rescue. Their conversation ends when Banner breaks off and heads into the nearby woods. Huh, I assumed that Clint would go to get Natasha since it appeared that they've known each other the longest. Closer to the jet are Wanda and who Will said is her brother Pietro. off to the side are Thor, Stark, and Rogers, who has thankfully not directly tried to interrogate me about what happened on the train yet, and now that he's done talking to Banner, Barton. 

The only one missing is, "Hello Nico, " Vision. Speak, or think, of the devil and he shall appear. I know that I shouldn't judge someone before I really know them, but Vision makes a shiver run down my spine just like Ultron's robot minions. "May I speak with you?" 

"You already are, so...I guess," I tell him as a response. He stares right at me, as if trying to figure out how much of that was sarcasm.

"I noticed that you show distain towards me," Vision finally get to the point. 

"How could I do that, I only met you a few hours ago," I deny it. Where is Will at? He could be very helpful right now.

"Yet, somehow you already don't trust me."

"Pshh, what? No..." I don't think he buys it. "Look, it's just a little hard to trust someone who doesn't have a soul." Vision's eyes widen at my blatant response, but honestly, I'm as surprised that actually come out of my mouth as him. It doesn't take long for him to regain his composure.

"Soul," he ponders the word for a second. "If I understand correctly, the soul is what humans credit to one's good morals and personality. In that sense, I believe that I too must have one." At this time I notice Will and a way out of this awkward conversation.

"Believe what you want, but believing doesn't mean that it's true." I wave to Will, "If'll excuse me." and leave Vision to think about what I've said. 

"Sorry, was everyone waiting on me?" Will asks. I notice that he now has his medical bag in hand, something that is probably going to be needed soon. 

"Probably not, but now that you're ready we should leave; I'm tired of doing nothing," I suggest.

The plan is to land here and then walk the rest of the way to a city that plays a major part in Ultron's plan and maintain some element of surprise. I probably should have listened to more of the briefing, but I thought it would be more action and less standing around.

"We're leaving, follow if you want!" I yell loud enough for the scattered groups to hear. 

Captain America looks up from talking with Ironman, who yell back, "Calm down kid; we're going now." 

Kid? Add that to the list of reasons I can't wait for this quest to end. I roll my eyes and stalk past everyone in what I decide is the direction of the city. Will hesitates before coming with me. No one corrects our course, so I assume we're going the right way. 

It isn't until an accented, feminine voice speaks up behind me, that I realize the others have come along too. "You hurt Vision's feeling," they state.

"What did you do di Angelo?" Will uses my last name, that's never good.

"I just told him the truth," I find myself on the defensive. 

"You told him he doesn't have a soul," Wanda correctly accuses me. I haven't turned back to see her expression, but the tingle of magic gets stronger, so I don't think she's very happy. It feels the same way as when Hazel practices working with the Mist.

"Like I said, the truth," I say, testing my luck. "Why do you care anyway, it wasn't that long ago that you didn't trust him either, but now you're standing up for him." 

"Nico, be nice," Will urges. I'm feeling really attacked right now. I take a deep breath, trying to follow Will's advice.

"The soul is a representation of a person's life force, and because Vision's life appears to come from that gem in his head, he can't have one. I didn't mean to be rude," I explain in more detail.

Wanda lapses into silence suddenly. Beside me Will shrugs at her lack of words. I realize what's going on when I feel a faint push at my mental barriers. I grab Wanda's wrist, steering clear of the magic leaking from her fingers that are way to close to my head. Then I spin around, twisting her arm back as I turn. i don't make it overly painful, but she cries out. "It isn't very nice to read people's minds without their permission." The shadows cast by her red light intensifies to match my annoyance. And she thought I was rude. Her eyes widen in either fear or surprise at my aggression. 

I'm about to let her go when something rams into me with the force of a tractor trailer. I'm shoved to the ground, my vision lighting up blue. Even after the blue dies away and my vision goes relatively back to normal, something, or someone, is still pinning me to the hard earth. "Don't touch my sister," a chilled voice threatens. Oh, so the blue was Pietro. He sure packs a punch; I feel like I've gone ten rounds with a Hellhound. Another way of saying that I ache all over. 

"Ow," I groan lamely.

"Did he hurt you?" Pietro asks Wanda. She doesn't answer him in favor of nursing her arm. I barely touched her!

"Your tackle hurts more than anything I did," I complain. She doesn't deny it.

"Stand down, fighting each other gets us no where," Rogers interrupts. I wonder how long that mine set will last. Pietro glares at me and then does as Captain says and lets me up. He goes straight over to comfort  his sister. I wonder if Bianca was still here and it was me she would react in the same way?

"Are you okay? Can you breath?" Will fusses over me, once again pulling me away from some darker thoughts.He rests a hand on my shoulder as I try to get back the breath that was knocked out of me. Probably trying to sense how my vitals are doing.

"I'm fine, but a little help would have ben nice." I shrug off his hand. I don't need him worrying about me.

"Nico," Will starts, sounding guilty. A tremor distracts me from what he says next.

"Stop talking Will,"I instruct. Admittedly, that wasn't very nice, but a second small shake sets off what little geokinesis power I have. "We have to go," I tell Will before breaking into a run.

"Wait," he calls after me, "Nico!" A second set of feet pounds the ground out of step with mine telling me that he is right behind me. We don't stop until the grey of buildings dominate the skyline. "What was that about?" Will is only panting slightly.

"Don't you feel it?" I question. The tremors have gotten stronger the closer to the city we are. Another one vibrates through my nerves to prove my point.

"I felt that, what is it?" Will agrees.

"Nothing good." It's getting harder to keep my balance.

"Is there a reason you two ran off?" I know that snarky voice...Stark. The Avengers have arrived.

"Yes there is, or did you miss the earthquakes?" I taunt. " I though people might be in danger. I did promise to save those you failed to by underestimating me." Hawkeye perks up at the reference while everyone else just looks confused.

"It's Ultron,"Vision diagnoses, putting everyone on edge. A couple screams and cries for help make all of us stiffen. I don't think anyone is disagreeing with him. 

"Well, lets get to work." Clint unslings his bow and notches an arrow. The rest of us follow suit with our own weapons and walk past the the city border. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not Rick Riordan or Marvel


	14. Chapter 14

It takes about five minuets for everything to go to Hades. Turns out the ground wasn't quaking for fun, but as a warning of everyone's impending doom. The Fates truly hate me, and anyone who disagrees can look at exhibit Q, the  _floating city_! I want to say that nothing could make this day any worse, but of course, I know to never challenge the gods.

As soon as we enter the city we come face to face with a army of maybe a hundred Greek monsters and even more robots. The first one that tried to attack made the mistake of aiming for Thor. As soon as it got within range, the bot's head was dented beyond recognition by Thor's hammer. Clint, perhaps inspired by Thor's very, very small victory, releases an arrow into the herd. He hit the target perfectly. To bad said target was a harpy and did almost little to no damage.

"Thor, Vision, Will, and I will handle the enemy, the rest of you should help the civilians," I order, no longer trusting Roger's leadership. Percy was a better commander than him during the Battle of Manhattan, and Percy was an immature sixteen year old. I'm waiting for someone to object. Sending a majority of your soldiers away from the main fight isn't usually a winning strategy, but I don't know how the Mist will make the Greek monsters look to the mortals on the team, even if Rogers and Clint already saw Mrs. O'Leary. And I'm not going to risk them trying to take on a hydra and give me more work. No one objects in the few seconds I give them to do so. I take that as an agreement and plunge into the thick crowd of my current enemies.

Learning from my past mistake, I swing my sword harder than I normally would to decapitate the first robot I come across. "Come and get me you tin cans," I challenge. Not my proudest work, but it serves its purpose. The monsters and bots are more than happy to try and rip me to pieces it would seem. I'll kill one and another one gets in line to die. The mech in front of me gets it's mechanics shredded when I stab it, then I shift to deal with the empousai on my left. When she's dealt with, a different bot needs my attention behind me which means a strain on my aching shoulder from forcing my sword through their iron armor. At some point the cloth that was covering up my healed bullet wound is ripped away.

Off in the distance lightning strikes a row of robots, frying their circuits as Thor fights and every once in a while Vision or Ironman flies over head. At one point a monster almost gets in a lucky hit, but is stopped by a celestial iron arrow sinking into its throat. I follow the path the arrow should have taken and find Will keeping watch on the roof of a almost intact building. I thank him with a smile and a curt nod.

The next ten or so minutes are spent toppling a cyclops while trying to defend against a mass of assaulting robots. Despite my efforts, a bot manages to deliver an uppercut and it becomes clear that there are to many foes for me to deal with alone. My energy levels are being depleted, my arms ache from swinging my sword around, and now a bruise is probably forming. I've been avoiding using my powers since it's sure to make Will mad at me, but I don't see another option.

I release a pulse of darkness to clear an area around me and buy me precious time. Then I kneel down and plunge my sword through the pavement. The ground splinters out from where my weapon cleaves the earth. Robots and monsters alike are devoured by the widening crevices where they will fall to the Underworld and become Cerberus's newest chew toys. "Serve me," I breathe in Greek. Answering my call, ten skeleton warriors crawl their way out of the pits clothed in battle armor. "Attack." A command and a large output of energy sets my small army on a rampage.

I slide my sword out of the ground and try to stand. My vision blurs. My brain buzzes with a head ache causing me to sway. I blink away the fuzzy eyesight, but the world still spins. That trick zapped my energy, so that won't be happening again unless I'm willing to join my father's realm permanently. I clutch my head, trying to ignore that two of my soldiers have been ripped to pieces, literally, bones are strewn everywhere. A black, smokey figure darts around the battle field making my head swim more than it already is. Why can't Thanatos collect the ghostly souls that come out of the Ultrons instead of zig-zagging around, messing with my eyes? Wait, ghosts? A third zombie is defeated, but now I have an idea, not a great idea, but an idea. Every time the escaped soul's armor is torn open, the soul is released and becomes something that looks like a specter.

I've never done it before. Percy is the only one that pulls energy from his dad's element, but in theory I should be able to do it too. I reach out to the energy that the nearest ghost is transmitting, and draw some of it to me. I don't take it all to avoid killing the soul all together. I use the energy of my fallen enemies to replenish my own supply. After the mess they made, it's only right that they help me clean it up. The new wave of power allows me to summon more skeletons to replace those that I lost. The best part, every time a metal freak is slashed though I get a refill. I decide that the zombies can handle the monsters and robots for a moment while I see how everyone else is doing.

I consider shadow traveling to where I last saw Will, but I don't feel like getting a lecture. Maybe I should make sure that none of the mortals have been eaten by a harpy or something. Though which one to I check on first? Rogers is out, my dream is still causing me to have a hard time being around him; Stark is just plain annoying; I don't know if Banner and Romanoff made it on this floating Hades, so that just leaves...Clint.

Barton is surprisingly hard to find. I check the top of buildings and areas filled with monsters with no luck. I end up finding him on a back street away from most of the fighting, tackling Wanda into an empty house to save her from an Ultron. The bot is shut down when Hawkeye's arrows spout from its neck. The danger is gone, but Wanda and Clint remain in the secluded building. If they stay in there for to long they'll become sitting ducks. I tap my foot impatiently, trying to decide if I should stand guard or leave. My choice is made for me when Medusa's sisters show up.

"Son of Hades," They hiss together. I sheath my sword and replace it with twin daggers, causing the serpents that make up their hair to get louder in anticipation.

"The snake sisters," I mock lamely. My grip tightens then relaxes on the black leather that wraps around the bronze handles of my new weapons. The siblings eye my daggers for a moment. Then they attack. Claws swipe at my unprotected arm, but miss when I side step the attack. I'm ready to strike back when an invisible force picks up one of the gorgons. It slams her against the side of a building. When that doesn't finish her off, the force tears her apart. Golden dust rains down on us. The other monster screams like a banshee in the Fields of Punishment at the death of her sister. Before she can come to her senses, I swipe my blade at her, slitting her throat. She's sent back to  _that_  place, but most of all, she stopped screaming.

That done, I look up to see the confused faces of Clint and Wanda. She must have been the invisible force."We should get back to the main fight," Wanda instructs, suddenly becoming serious. While she's giving out orders a familiar blue streak runs past the entrance of the road that we're on.

"Fine with me." Clint shrugs.

I don't answer, the blue streak is back. I take the opportunity for some payback and solidify a small patch of shadow right in front of where Pietro should be stepping. He trips over the shadow block I made and falls flat on his face. If someone ever said revenge isn't satisfying, they were wrong. "You really should slow down and watch your step," I suggest, holding back a small chuckle. He glares at me. Then he suddenly bursts out laughing.

"Not bad." He stands and brushes off specks of glittering, golden dust. Barton laughs along while Wanda does not look amused. "You're not so bad," Pietro amends. He grabs his sister and speeds away. "Keep up old man," He taunts Clint before disappearing completely.

Hawkeye aims his bow in the direction the duo went, mumbling something under his breath. With I sigh, he relaxes and turns to me. "We should try and catch up."

"Speak for yourself."I embrace the shadows, hold my breath that I still have enough energy from the ghosts, and vanish.

The last thing I hear is Clint's "You have got to be kidding me!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or Heroes of Olympus.


	15. Chapter 14.5

I walk out of the shadows laughing. This of course confuses the mob of foes that I teleport in the middle of. It doesn't take long for them to cast off their shock and realize that I'm not there to make friends. My two daggers glint in the light as I cut through metal and flesh alike. It's a relatively small squadron and it doesn't take long until I've killed most of the ones that didn't run off. Then I notice the manticore.

He's ready to shoot a thorn from his leathery tail at a cowering couple. While he's distracted, I rush towards him and slash at his back. My cut is to shallow to draw blood, but it gets the monster's attention which is what I was hoping for.  I back away, hoping to draw his attention away. The civilians take the chance to run away, though the manticore doesn't show if he notices.

"Son of Hades," The monster that destroyed my life sneers.

"Dr. Thorn," I address with a mocking respect.

"I was there the night you found out what you were," he recalls as he circles me. "I was the first monster you saw, and now," Thorn cackles, "now I'll be your last." He fires a projectile from his tail, making me jump out of the way or risk getting impaled.

"Haven't learned any new tricks I see." before he can respond, I run at him, trying to break through his defenses and deal damage. I get close enough that he has to steps away from my attacks with an unwarranted smirk. When I aim for his chest he turn away, swinging his massive tail around. It smacks me in the chest. I'm lifted off the ground and suspend in air for a moment until I crash in the shadow of building. Di Immortals, that hurts!

My ribs burn. Something is probably broken. I'm dealing with the pain of my latest injury while the manticore takes his time stalking closer.  His enjoyment at seeing me in misery couldn't be any clearer. That look alone encourages me to grind him to dust. The adrenaline coursing through my veins ease some of the agony, hopefully that will be all I need to take Thorn down.

I reach for one of my daggers that landed near me and wait for him to eventually get within striking distance. When he does, I gather up my strength and stab my blade in his leg. Thorn roars as he fuels his anger into using his other foot to deliver a swift kick to my side. It's like drinking from the River Phlegethon all over again. Thorn rips the weapon out of his leg, unblocking the flow of oozing black blood.

"I've had enough of you demigod brat," he growls. His fires a thorn at me. I roll out of the way in time. Despite a stabbing pain, I'm saved from getting any more beaten up. "You're still that annoying little ten year old that needs someone else to save you." he shoots another thorn on the other side of me, making it hard to get away without standing up. His way of toying with his prey, me. "What makes you think you can save this wretched planet when you can't even protect yourself?" Thorn sneers.

I push past the terrible ache in my chest, and wobbly make it to my feet. Using the brick wall of the nearby building, I can pretend that my legs aren't straining to keep me up right. Thorn is there too. He shoves me into the exterior and holds me there with a hand firmly pressed against my neck. "You're so pitiful that even your sister, Bianca, died to get away from her pathetic excuse  of a little brother," he taunts.  I suck in what little air I can get with the thinning oxygen and the manticore's hand clamped down on my throat.

He's still laughing at my apparent weakness and doesn't notice the murderous glare I send his way. I may have lost my daggers and probably can't unsheathe my sword, but he seems to have forgotten  I have one last trick up my sleeve. My anger creates a path that makes it easier than before to reach out to the shadows that Thorn was kind enough to throw me into. I manifest  my hate for this particular monster into a spike of darkness. It shoots out from the ground and embeds itself in the arm that holds me to the wall. He releases me instantly. "Don't you dare blemish her name by speaking or even thinking it ever again." I don't recognize my voice. I permit the shadows to disperse back to their normal form including the ones sticking out of Thorn's arm. Another spout of sickly blood drip, drip ,drips onto the concrete.

"Oh, did I hurt the wittle king of ghost's feelings," He snipes. The blood gushing from his limbs don't even faze him.

I'm going to kill you," I force through my sore throat. I draw my sword, raising it level with my enemy's heart.

"Still going to fight?" Thorn surveys my ability to stay in a fighting stance. He scoffs, "Why? We both know it's pointless." I slash at him. He easily leans out of the way. "No one cares about you."

"You need to stop talking," I spit.

"You went through Tartarus and your so called friends only noticed because that had to save you from your own incompetence." He continues.

"I said stop!" I scream.

Memories from inside the jar and Tartarus flash across my eyes. The nightmare spills into the real world; I can't tell the difference anymore. Is it hard to breath because of my injury and the thinning air or is every breath burning from the acidic atmosphere of Tartarus? Achlys and Cupid's voices mend together confirming my fear that I'm unwanted and unloved. "Goodby Nico di Angelo," Tartarus, no, Thorn's voice cuts through the pandemonium. For a moment the image blurs to one of the Giants raising a spear with the ground littered with glass shards. I have to remind myself that it isn't real as the spear head is aimed. The manticore takes the Giant's place right after he shoots his thorn at me.

My eyes widen as the projectile flies towards me. I'm ready to travel to the Underworld permanently when something knocks the thorn out of the way at the last second with a loud clang. The piercing sound  draws me away from my nightmare and I snap back to reality. I gasp for breath and wonder how long ago I've collapsed on the ground. How did that happen?

"Nico!" I think Will calls. Out of no where, Thorn is pelted with arrows until his injuries and loss of blood finally turns him to dust. "Neeks," Will says again, though he sounds like he's getting closer. He bends down next to me as I focus on getting air in my lungs despite the pain.

"Is he okay?" Steve questions when he walks past to retrieve the shield that he threw to save me.

"At the very least he has one or two fractured ribs," Will reports. He continues to examine me, but eases up when I fail to hide a wince. "We should get him to the helicarrier."

"The what?" I choke out, "Did I miss something?" I glance between Will and Steve.

"Long story short, Stark found the thing that'll drop the city and cause planetary extinction, so S.H.I.E.L.D. is helping to evacuate civilians before we can destroy it," Steve explains. 

"Oh...wait...what?" 

""We'll explain later, you need medical attention right now," Will interrupts.

"I'm fine," I groan. Will fixes me with a look that says he doesn't believe me. "Really," I try to convince him. Without warning he pokes me in the ribs, drawing out a yelp of pain. Not my finest moment. Even Rogers covers his mouth to smother a chuckle.

"Come on, it isn't far," Will end the discussion. He drapes my right arm over his shoulder and has me lean on him to stand up.

 Once I'm on my feet, I try to pull away, but he won't let me. Steve sees what he's doing and does the same on my left. They both have to crouch a little to match my height. Together they lead me to what looks like multiple flying platforms, escape pods. They let me down on an empty row of seats before Rogers speaks, "Tony needs my help, can you handle things here?" 

"Yeah, go do what you need to," Will addresses him while opening his medical bag and starting to search through it. Captain America nods in acknowledgement and runs off. 

"I should be helping them," I sulk. "I need to do something."

Will's head snaps up. "What you need to do is stay here and heal," He stresses.

"Will," I start to beg. 

"No," he shuts me down. 

"Can't you just wrap them, give me some ambrosia, and send me on my way?" 

"First of all, you don't just bind injured ribs, and second, if you eat anymore godly food then you're going to burn up." I deflate a little. After all of this and Thorn ends up being right, I'm useless when it comes down to it. Will watches me with a calculating expression. "Fine," he sighs in defeat. "Lay down," he commands. I don't know what he's doing, but I comply and spread out on the empty seats. " Close your eyes." I hesitate, then does what he tells me to. A soft murmuring fills the air, it's comforting, and soon my breathing slows to a relaxing level. Next, the painful knot in my chest untangles into a warm feeling to match the golden light shining through my eyelids. The humming cuts off, so does the light, but the warm feeling remains. It's nice, like the home I can't remember having. Also, my ribs have stopped hurting, making breathing easier. "Better?" Will's voice makes the feeling intensify. I nod and open my eyes lazily. Will's face hovers above mine, examining me. His closeness makes it easy to see the bead of sweat on his forehead and covering his freckles. He looks tired.

"What did you do?" I find myself concerned

"Healed you a little bit, but not completely, so please don't do anything stupid." Will fishes a square of ambrosia out of his bag and takes a bite.

"Right, wouldn't want my father getting mad," I joke.

"No, I don't want you dead or injured," He zips his bag shut and stands, "Now, don't you have a promise to keep?" 

I laugh at his seriousness and melt into the darkness. I haven't borrowed any energy since my fight, so I'm not at full power, but the pleasant aura wards against the shadows that want to swallow me whole. I emerge just in time to hear the ending of a conversation about who should protect a power source. "I'll do it," I speak up at the same time as Wanda. Though my suggestion causes everyone to turn and stare at me. Rude, you would think it was like I randomly appeared out of no where...oh, wait. At least it looks like Romanoff and Banner made it. 

"You're hurt," Steve points out. As mush I would prefer to blow off his concern, he sorta saved me, so I should probably play nice. "I'm better now." He raises an eyebrow in disbelief or surprise. "Will's basically a miracle worker when it comes to healing,"

"Okay, you and Wanda can work together," Rogers submits.

"Fine with me, as long as she stays out of my head." I give the witch in question a pointed glare. She signals in agreement and everyone breaks off to fight elsewhere. 

It doesn't take long for a mess of Ultrons to show up, but there are relatively few monsters. I slash, dodge, and weave through the metallic thugs. When one is sliced to ribbons, I gain a burst of energy. This goes on for a while, though I don't know how long exactly. A large surge of enemies tries to drown us when a wave of scarlet power ripples out from Wanda. The droids are demolished, thankfully I'm only pushed back about three steps. I regain my balance when the rare silence is broken by quiet sobbing. 

"Wanda?" I ask uncertain.

"He's dead," her accent harder to understand coated in despair. Her legs give out from under her and she collapses in a heap in the ground. I extend my senses out, looking for Pietro's soul signature. I catch a glimpse of it as it winks out.

"You should go to him; I got it here," I comfort? I don't know what I'm doing. This is usually Will's job. With tears streaming down her face, she forces herself to stand and runs to her dying brother. A cloak of red magic billows behind her. 

After the overload of power, there aren't any robots left to attack me now. I decide to take the time to reach out to the other members of the team to make sure they aren't dead too. I have one more to check when their life force begins to dim. No! The warm feeling that settled over my heart freezes over.


	16. Chapter 15

**Will's Point of View:**

Nico shadow travels away, leaving me to help the injured. It isn't long before Hawkeye shows up with civilians, some injured, others just shaken by trauma. I finish checking over a middle aged man that passed out because of this whole ordeal and move on to a blonde women. At first glance the only thing wrong with her is a shallow cut on her arm, but her eyes are frantic. "My boy, he was in the marketplace." She latches onto my arm when I get close enough.

"It's okay," I try to reassure her, "they'll find him." I glance a Clint who is listening to our conversation. He sighs in exhaustion and heads back out. "Wait!" I call after him, but it's impossible to hear anything in the chaos. After putting a band aid on her cut, I pull away from the mother's grip to reach my bow and arrows and run after him. I think I've been spending to much time with Nico, his recklessness is starting to rub off on me.

The market place is surprisingly not far away. I mean, I think it's what used to be the market place. There are scattered bits of burning canvas sticking out of the rubble. It was probably once lively, but now it's abandoned. There isn't any sign of a kid or Clint. I move on, picking my way around flipped stands and over up heaved sections of concrete. Then I glimpse a head of blond hair. Apparently I'm not the only one. A shield plane hovers over head but something feels wrong. The guns attached to it are pointed at Clint and they appear armed even though there aren't any robots around. I stare up at it, unmoving, trying to figure out what's going on. I can't put my finger on it. Clint has come out of a cellar way with a little boy on his back. He found the kid. That might be the best news all day. I look back at the plane. Surly it's here to help us get back to the shuttles. Instead of seeing a shield agent in the cockpit though it's a bot. "Look out!" 

I'm drowned out by the sound of bullets firing. They head right towards Hawkeye and the small child that never asked to be a part of this, what ever this is, a war? A battle? Maybe just a really big mess.  The bullets pelt the ground four feet in front of them. There's nowhere for them to go and I don't know what to do. I freeze. Sure demigods can fight with guns if they wanted to but most don't. We use swords and knives and spears. Nothing compared to the spheres of metal that are designed to rip through flesh.  They're done for. I'm about to watch my idol be turned into Swiss cheese. Being the hero that he is, Hawkeye covers the boy with his own body to the best of his ability but as a doctor I know it won't be enough. Then a streak of blue zips in front of the two, blocking the bullets with a wrecked car. It breaks me out of my daze long enough to notch an arrow and release. The plane veers off course and I know that it's going to crash. It's to late. 

It's times like this that people say time moves in slow motion, but that's not quite true. It's not the event that slows down, that's impossible, it's the instant reply your mind shows you over and over again. The first time I see Pietro fall to the ground is normal. The second time I see the force of each bullet as it tears through his muscles, veins, and flesh the moments before he settles on the ground in a growing pool of blood. Then it changes. It's no longer Pietro on the ground, but the people I couldn't save. It's Marcus Valeria, a son of Aries that  died after being stabbed in the back, it wasn't until later that we realized it was done by his own brother that had yet to be claimed. It's Macy Rowler, a daughter of Demeter.  She died during the Giant war. An earthborn attacked her with a club, whacking her on the head. Her heart continued beating but her eyes never opened. Eventually her heart couldn't continue on and fell still despite everything I triedd. So many I failed to save. If only I, if only I were, were fas, if only I were faster. No. I'm not letting that happen again. 

Despite the voice telling me that he's already dead, I run over to where Pietro lays. So many holes, so much blood, so little life, but he's only mostly dead and I can work with that. I place my hand on the wounded boy's chest and start to glow with a golden light. Medicine and bandages can't help him, but maybe the power of Apollo can. My hands keep trying to slip off with all the blood. His already faint heart beat gets slower. No. Please. Father help me. His heart stops. No. My glow gets brighter. I can bring him back. I have to bring him back.

  _Bum bump_. 

Yes. It's working though I don't know how long I can keep this up

. I'm already so tired.

 _Ba bum_.

 My energy reserves are draining but the heart beats getting stronger. _Ba bump_. 

Now I know how Nico feels after he uses his powers. I'm going to enjoy a nice long nap after this.

  _Ba bump._

 _Ba bump_. 

He's going to make it I know he is. My hands slip and I fall on my back. Why can't I move?  "Will are you okay." The voice sounds far away. "Goodness, your bleeding Will." Why is Clint so worried? Pietro's going to live. I was fast enough. Black spots dance before my vision. I blink them away but my eyelids are heavy. I don't know why it just now clicks. I once head about how Nico tried to trade a soul for a soul. Why should it be any different for me. I can't bring a soul back to life without giving away one of my own and I only have one.

 "Tell Nico I'm sorry." It's difficult to force the words through my parched lips. "I'm sorry that I'm leaving him." Are those tears running down Clint's cheeks? I think he just now realized what Nico meant when he tried to warn the Avengers that we were more than just kids. We were bred to be fighters to the end, but now I get some peace. A break from being a pawn of the gods.

  _Ba bump_. 

Maybe Nico will visit me in the underworld. 

 _Bum bump_. 

It'll be nice to have a friend that isn't dead. 

 _Bump_. 

I stare up as the sun disappears behind a cloud. The whole world gets a little darker. 

 _Ba_........................ Goodbye Neeks; I'm sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Um, sorry, I guess.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm not Marvel or Rick Riordan.


End file.
